DECLINE IN MORTALITY RATE.

Almost half the child deaths worldwide are still caused due to under-nutrition despite substantial progress made to reduce under-five mortality, a new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) secretariat has said.
Between 1990 and 2013, under-five mortality declined by 49%, falling from an estimated rate of 90 deaths per 1,000 live births to 46 deaths per 1,000 live births. The global rate of decline has also accelerated significantly, from 1.2% per annum between 1990 and 1995 to 4% per annum between 2005 and 2013. About 17,000 fewer children died every day in 2013 than in 1990.

"Despite the evidence of progress, the gains remain insufficient to reach the target of a two-thirds reduction from 1990 levels of mortality by the year 2015," the report, which will be released during the 68th World Health Assembly to be held from May 18 to 27 in Geneva, said.




 


























 






 












 






































































































 

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Surgeons remove 232 teeth from Indian Teeenager

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.

 

"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.

England´s Farah out of Commonwealth Games

England´s double Olympic champion Mo Farah has withdrawn from the Commonwealth Games due to fitness concerns, his team announced on Thursday.

 

The 5,000 and 10,000 metres Olympic champion, 31, was recently laid low by illness and has decided to pull out of the Glasgow event in order to work on his fitness ahead of next month´s European Championships in Zurich. "I have taken the tough decision to withdraw from the Commonwealth Games," Farah said in a statement released by Team England. "I really wanted to add the Commonwealth titles to my Olympic and World Championships, but the event is coming a few weeks too soon for me as my body is telling me it´s not ready to race yet. Best wishes to my fellow athletes in Glasgow." 

Meares wins women´s time trial

Australian great Anna Meares won the Commonwealth Games women´s 500m time trial cycling gold on Thursday.

 

Meares beat England´s Victoria Williamson in a new Commonwealth Games record of 33.435sec.Australia´s Stephanie Morton took bronze ahead of England´s Jess Varnish. 

 

Norway on alert over feared ‘terrorist’ attack

Norway has taken exceptional security measures after being informed of a possible imminent "terrorist attack" by militants who have fought in Syria, the country´s intelligence chief said Thursday.

 

The move comes as concerns are mounting in Europe about the growing national security threat posed by militants returning from war-torn Syria.

 

The domestic intelligence service (PST) "recently received information that a group of extremists from Syria may be planning a terrorist attack in Norway," said PST chief Benedicte Bjoernland, adding it could be a question of days.

 

The threat is "non-specific" but "credible", said Bjoernland. Neither the eventual target, nor the identity of the militants, nor their location are known, she added.

 

The authorities said they were increasing the presence of police in stations and airports, recalling civil servants from their holidays and stepping up airline security.

 

In its annual evaluation presented at the start of the year, the PST said the threat level against Norway had increased because of the civil war in Syria. The intelligence services said between 40 and 50 individuals with links to Norway had fought or were fighting in Syria.

Norway on alert over feared ‘terrorist’ attack

Norway has taken exceptional security measures after being informed of a possible imminent "terrorist attack" by militants who have fought in Syria, the country´s intelligence chief said Thursday.

 

The move comes as concerns are mounting in Europe about the growing national security threat posed by militants returning from war-torn Syria.

 

The domestic intelligence service (PST) "recently received information that a group of extremists from Syria may be planning a terrorist attack in Norway," said PST chief Benedicte Bjoernland, adding it could be a question of days.

 

The threat is "non-specific" but "credible", said Bjoernland. Neither the eventual target, nor the identity of the militants, nor their location are known, she added.

 

The authorities said they were increasing the presence of police in stations and airports, recalling civil servants from their holidays and stepping up airline security.

 

In its annual evaluation presented at the start of the year, the PST said the threat level against Norway had increased because of the civil war in Syria. The intelligence services said between 40 and 50 individuals with links to Norway had fought or were fighting in Syria.

Air Algerie wreck found in Mali: Burkina Faso Army

The wreck of an Air Algerie plane that went missing early Thursday with 116 people on board has been found in Mali near the Burkina Faso border, said a coordinator for the crisis unit in Ouagadougou.

 

"We have found the Algerian plane. The wreck has been located ... 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of the Burkina Faso border" in the Malian region of Gossi, said General Gilbert Diendiere from the Burkina Faso army. 

Gaza death toll hits 800 on 18th day of Israeli attacks

Fifteen Palestinians were killed Thursday when an Israeli shell slammed into a UN shelter where hundreds of civilians had taken refuge.

 

And fresh Israeli fire early Friday pushed the overall Palestinian death toll in Gaza to at least 800 despite world efforts to broker a ceasefire.

 

The Thursday strike hit a UN school sheltering some of the 100,000 Palestinians driven from their homes in search of a safe haven after weeks of deadly fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas.

 

The shell crashed down in the middle of the courtyard where people had set up camp, leaving the ground covered in bloodstains.

 

Gaza´s emergency services said at least 15 people had been killed and more than 200 wounded.

 

UN chief Ban Ki-Moon said: "Many have been killed -- including women and children, as well as UN staff."

 

He said he was "appalled" by the news and "strongly condemned" the attack which he said "underscores the imperative for the killing to stop -- and to stop now".

 

Washington said it was "deeply saddened and concerned about the tragic incident", without explicitly blaming its ally Israel for the shelling.

 

"We again urge all parties to redouble their efforts to protect civilians," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in Cairo, where Secretary of State John Kerry is trying to negotiate a ceasefire.

 

Early Friday morning a shell hit a home in the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis, killing at least one person and sending the Palestinian death toll from 18 days of fighting to 800. 

Bodies leave Ukraine war zone, truce called at MH17 crash site

A train carrying the remains of 280 people killed in the Malaysian plane disaster was finally allowed to leave a rebel-held region in eastern Ukraine as the militants declared a truce Tuesday around the crash site.

 

Five days after Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was allegedly shot out of the sky, pro-Russian separatists conceded to a furious international clamour for the bodies and the plane´s black boxes to be handed over to investigators.

 

The devices, which record cockpit activity and flight data, were handed to Malaysian officials by the prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People´s Republic, Alexander Borodai, in front of scores of journalists.

 

"We will order a ceasefire in an area of 10 kilometres around" the site of the disaster, which killed all 298 people on board the plane, he said.

 

Meanwhile, after days of bitter wrangling, the rebels released the bodies of the dead.

 

Loaded on a train, they will arrive in the government-controlled city of Kharkiv Tuesday before being put on a plane to the Netherlands, where the flight to Kuala Lumpur originated and which suffered the greatest loss, with 193 citizens killed in the crash.

 

The rebel concessions came after US President Barack Obama insisted that Moscow force the insurgents it is accused of backing to cooperate with an international probe into the disaster.

 

Moscow, which has drawn ire for failing to rein in the rebels, backed a UN Security Council resolution condemning the downing of the plane and demanding access to the crash site.

 

A senior Russian defence ministry official insisted that "Russia did not give the rebels Buk missile systems or any other kinds of weapons or military hardware".

Rebel attacks kill 18 in Philippines: Military

An escalation of fighting between the Philippine army and a breakaway Muslim rebel group in the country´s south killed 18 people in a single day of violence, the military said Tuesday.

 

Seventeen members of the rebel Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and one soldier were slain in the day-long violence Monday in the strife-torn southern island of Mindanao, Brigadier General Eduardo Pangilinan, the area´s military commander, said.

 

"One of our soldiers was killed during the (initial) attack. The 17 enemies were killed when our troops fired back and during the subsequent encounters," the general told reporters.

 

There was a lull in fighting on Tuesday but the military remained on alert, with helicopter gunships flying overhead and armoured vehicles parked on the streets of Cotabato City, a trading centre in the area.

 

"There have been no additional encounters but we are continuing our operations on the ground," Pangilinan added.

 

Fighting began in the early hours of Monday morning as BIFF guerrillas attacked military outposts in the violence-scarred province of Maguindanao.

 

The violence later spread to the neighbouring province of North Cotabato before the rebels pulled back, Pangilinan said.

 

BIFF spokesman Abu Misry Mama disputed the military´s version of events, saying only four of his fighters had been killed.

 

"Only four have died. We would never lie about our casualties because it is an honour to die as a mujahedeen," he said.

 

He said the BIFF had launched the attacks in retaliation for the military´s abduction of a Muslim father and son on July 3. The military has previously denied his accusation, branding this as propaganda.

 

Regional social welfare agencies said that at least nine civilians were wounded and over 300 families had been forced to flee due to the new fighting

Gaza toll hits 572 on day 14 of Israeli operation

The death toll in Gaza rose to 572 on Monday following the bloodiest day in the Palestinian enclave since 2009 where Israel is pressing a punishing military operation.

 

And the Israeli army said another seven soldiers had been killed in fighting in Gaza, raising the overall Israeli death toll to 27, all but two of them soldiers.

 

The announcement came a day after 13 soldiers were killed, making Sunday the highest one-day death toll sustained by the Israeli army since the 2006 Lebanon war.

 

Gaza emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said air strikes and shelling killed 55 people across the enclave on Monday, and another 68 bodies were pulled from the rubble in areas hit by heavy fighting a day earlier.

 

The army also said its troops had killed "more than 10 militants" who had infiltrated southern Israel through two tunnels, sparking a firefight that reportedly wounded several soldiers.

 

Militants killed inside Israel are not included in Qudra´s Gaza toll.

 

The latest deaths included six people killed in two artillery strikes, three of whom died in the southern city of Rafah and another three in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.

 

Of the 55 people killed on Monday, around a third of them were children, Qudra said.

 

Seven children were among nine dead in an air raid on a house in Rafah, and another four children were killed in another strike on a house in Gaza City that killed nine people.

 

A nighttime air strike on a residential tower block in Gaza City killed 11 people, including five children, Qudra said, and a simultaneous strike in the central Strip killed another.

 

And Israeli tank shells slammed into a hospital in Deir al-Balah, killing four people, among them doctors, Qudra said, indicating at least 70 people were wounded.

 

Another 32 people were killed in a series of air strikes and tank shelling across the strip.

 

Of the 68 bodies recovered on Monday, 13 were from Shejaiya, hiking the death toll from a blistering Sunday attack to 74.

 

Qudra said the vast majority were women, children and the elderly.

 

Another 23 of the bodies were pulled from a three-storey house belonging to the Abu Jamaa family in the southern city of Khan Yunis which was hit on Sunday, raising the overall death toll from a single strike to 28, Qudra said.

 

So far, Palestinian figures show 572 Gazans have been killed and more than 3,350 wounded since the start of the Israeli campaign on July 8. 

Israel air strikes kill 7 in Gaza: Medics

A series of Israeli air strikes early Tuesday killed seven people in Gaza, including five members of the same family, emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said.

 

The deaths hike the total Palestinian toll to 583 since the Israeli military launched Operation Protective Edge on July 8 in a bid to stamp out rocket fire from Gaza.

 

Qudra said a strike on Deir el-Balah in central Gaza killed five family members, four of them women.

 

Another person was killed in a strike in nearby Nusseirat, and one more died in the southern city of Khan Yunis. Many of those killed in the relentless Israeli campaign of shelling and airstrikes in the Gaza Strip have been women and children, medics say. On the Israeli side, 27 soldiers and two civilians have been killed. World powers have urged Hamas to accept an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire and stop raining rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip, demands it has so far resisted.

THE FUTURE: Meet Ugochukwu Nwaokobia

UGOCHUKWU NWAOKOBIA is a 25-year-old Delta State cum Lagos gentleman. He had his formative years in Ikorodu, Lagos with his siblings and parents. He has a very supportive mother who encourages him to chase his dreams and be the best he can be.  He is currently an Accounting student at the Lagos State University.

 

He is a multi-talented dude who not only sings but also plays the guitar and piano. 

 

Ugo’s favourite food is eba and vegetable soup. He is a fun-loving person and enjoys making new friends. He sees his magnetic memory and love for soccer as strength and his deepest fear is not reaching his full potential in life.

 

He aspires to change the current face of music by unifying the past generation and this present one through excellent music delivery. His music-oriented background drives him to be much more.

 

He sees Uncle Ben as an artist who constantly draws out the best in people. Winning Project Fame would translate into a success story for his friends, family, classmates, loved ones and of course for him.

His Unique Number is 18

Source : Projectfamewestafrica.com

 

Dutch investigators inspect MH17 bodies at east Ukraine station

Dutch investigators on Monday inspected bodies recovered from downed passenger airliner MH17 which had been loaded onto a train under rebel control not far from the crash site.

Each of the train wagons carrying the corpses was opened and examined by two men wearing masks and headlights. The stench from the wagon was overpowering and, contrary to claims that the carriages were refrigerated, there was little sign that the remains in black body bags were being chilled.

Israel shells Gaza hospital killing five, injuring 70

Israel shelled a hospital in the central Gaza Strip on Monday, killing five people and wounding at least 70, medics said.

 

Emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said the 70 injured included at least 20 hospital staff, among them doctors.

 

He said the third floor of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah had been hit, with an interior ministry official saying it was hit by Israeli tank fire.

 

Palestinian television showed footage of wounded people, including medical staff, being treated after the bombing.

 

Former United star Ferdinand joins QPR

Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand signed for Premier League new-boys QPR on a free transfer Thursday and revealed he had turned down more lucrative offers in order to return to London.

 

Ferdinand agreed a one-year deal with the Hoops, ending his search for a new club following his release by United when his contract expired last month.

 

The 35-year-old was keen to move back to London, where he was born, and he has decided to rejoin QPR boss Harry Redknapp, who handed him his professional debut when the pair worked together at West Ham.

 

Ferdinand revealed the prospect of turning out for a club he admired as a boy also persuaded him to move to Loftus Road, where his brother Anton and cousin Les both played with distinction. "I used to sit in the stands, my dad used to bring me here as a young boy. There are great memories for me here and for my family," Ferdinand told QPR´s website. "Anton had nothing but good things to say about QPR and I watched Les (Ferdinand) here as a boy, with the likes of Ray Wilkins, Clive Wilson, David Bardsley and Alan McDonald."

 

Ferdinand, who won six Premier League titles and the 2008 Champions League during his 12-year spell with United, is Redknapp´s first close-season signing after guiding QPR back into the Premier League via the Championship play-offs. And the former England centre-back admitted he had turned down several more lucrative offers from across the world to sign for QPR. "I spoke to Harry and (owner) Tony Fernandes at length. I think they both looked me in the eye and knew that I still have something to offer -- that I had a genuine desire to come here and play football," Ferdinand added. "I had a lot of offers from all over the world -- some in places with a better climate than here. But the draw for me was to play in the Premier League and back here where it all started. It´s not about money. I had loads of more lucrative offers available to me. I still feel I´ve got something to offer and I´m excited about helping this club cement its place in the Premier League."

 

Redknapp has no doubts Ferdinand can still be an effective performer at the highest level despite some underwhelming displays for United last season. "Rio´s a fantastic player and a great professional. I´m delighted we´ve been able to bring him here," Redknapp said. "I signed Rio as a 14 year-old. He was class on the field and off the field then, and he´s continued in that manner throughout his career. During his time at Manchester United, he was the best defender in Europe, if not the world. To bring him to QPR - when he´s still got so much to offer in terms of his quality, class, experience and know-how - is a remarkable coup for the club."

 

Redknapp appears to have found a central defensive partner for Ferdinand after agreeing a fee with Cardiff to sign their England international Steven Caulker. "We´ve agreed a fee for Steven Caulker, who I like very much," he told Sky Sports News. "I had him at Tottenham as a player and he´s done very well. I think Rio will be a big influence on him. I think for Steven it will be the best education he could ever have in his life to play with Rio." 

Ukraine PM says those behind jet downing should face Hague tribunal

Ukraine´s prime minister said Friday that pro-Russian separatist rebels that Kiev believes shot down a Malaysian airliner with 298 people on board should face an international tribunal The Hague.

 

"Yesterday´s terrible tragedy has altered our lives. The Russians went too far," Interfax-Ukraine quoted Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk as saying.

 

"This is an international crime for which they should face an international tribunal in The Hague.

 

Jet crash rekindles MH370 families' grief, suspicion

The latest Malaysia Airlines disaster has rekindled the grief of MH370 relatives who say the new crash bears out their furious criticisms of the nation´s flag carrier and government.

 

Flight MH17, a Boeing 777-200, went down in strife-torn eastern Ukraine on Thursday with 298 passengers and crew, mostly Dutch citizens.

 

The tragedy has reopened the deep emotional wounds caused by the March 8 disappearance of flight MH370, whose fate remains one of the biggest aviation mysteries ever.

 

Many of them have repeatedly accused the airline and Malaysian government of withholding information and of suspicious conduct in handling the probe into the disaster.

 

"My heart is breaking for another 295 souls on board, and another 295 families. Now I cannot stop shaking," said Sarah Bajc, partner of MH370 passenger Philip Wood.

 

US officials said MH17 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile, a possible casualty of a violent rebellion by pro-Russian insurgents.

 

But Bajc said "it was only a matter of time" that a new tragedy would hit struggling Malaysia Airlines.

 

Bajc is among a group of vocal MH370 relatives who have criticised the government and airline´s handling of the search for the missing plane and investigation into what might have caused it, alleging information was being withheld.

 

"When symptoms of a disease are ignored, the disease festers," she said in an email.

 

"Another (Malaysia Airlines) flight has gone down. Another 777... Far too much coincidence for the two situations to not be linked in some way." "How do we know a similar thing didn´t happen to MH370?" she said.

 

Flight MH370 vanished March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people aboard.

 

The Boeing 777-400 is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, but an extensive search has turned up no sign of wreckage so far, leaving families frustrated and anguished.

Global anger mounts over downed Malaysia Airlines jet

Global outrage and shock mounted Friday after the apparent shooting down of a Malaysian airliner over strife-torn eastern Ukraine with nearly 300 people on board as questions swirled as to who was behind the tragedy.

 

Local emergency crews picked through horrific carnage at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, placing dozens of sticks with white rags in the ground to mark where bodies lay.

 

The Boeing 777 came down in cornfields in the separatist-held region on Thursday, killing all 298 people on board, with the United States claiming it was shot down in a missile attack.

 

Kiev accused pro-Russian separatists battling Ukrainian forces of committing a "terrorist act" as stunned world leaders urged a full investigation into the disaster, which could further fan the flames of the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War.

 

The United States demanded an "unimpeded" international inquiry into the tragedy and rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin´s charge that Ukraine´s crackdown on separatist rebels stoked tensions that led to the crash.

 

"While we do not yet have all the facts, we do know that this incident occurred in the context of a crisis in Ukraine that is fuelled by Russian support for the separatists, including through arms, material, and training," the White House said in a statement.

 

News of the crash sent European, US and Asian stock markets tumbling. Shares in Malaysia Airlines, still afflicted by the trauma and global stigma of flight MH370´s disappearance four months ago, plummeted almost 18 percent on Friday morning.

 

The father of one MH17 stewardess wept as he expressed the vain hope his daughter could be alive.

 

"We are just hoping she survived even though we know many are dead... We pray that somehow she is safe and comes home," Salleh Samsudin, 54, said of 31-year-old Nur Shazana Salleh on Malaysian television.

 

One devastated relative told how her sister Ninik Yuriani, 56 -- of Indonesian descent but a Dutch national -- was on her way to Jakarta to celebrate the Muslim festival Eid.

 

"My family is now gathered at my sister´s house in Jakarta. We´ve decided to keep this from my mother. She´s so old and weak, I don´t think she could take it," Enny Nuraheni, 54, told.

UNSC calls for ‘full, thorough’ probe into Malaysia plane disaster

The UN Security Council on Friday demanded a full, independent and international probe into the apparent shooting down of a Malaysian jet over Ukraine that killed 298 people on board.

 

"The members of the Security Council called for a full, thorough and independent international investigation into the incident in accordance with international civil aviation guidelines and for appropriate accountability," the council said in a unanimous declaration.