Jonathan picks PDP nomination

Jonathan picks PDP nomination

October 30, 2014 Premium Times

President Goodluck Jonathan has finally obtained the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP’s election nomination forms ahead of his formal declaration to seek a second term in office.
Mr. Jonathan picked the forms at the PDP national headquarters in Abuja Thursday after confirming he received at least N100m as contributions from groups and individuals to defray the cost of the form.
The PDP nomination form sells for N22 million.
After receiving the forms, Mr. Jonathan thanked the donors.
His formal declaration is expected between November 7 and 15.
More Details later…

PDP Reps members scheme Tambuwal’s removal as Speaker

By Sylvester Ugwuanyi on October 30, 2014

Despite that the House of Representatives is currently on recess, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal’s seat as Speaker of the House has become heavily threatened following his defection to the All Progressives Congress, APC, from the ruling Peoples’ Democratic party, PDP. This is as the PDP caucus in the lower chamber of the National Assembly on Wednesday met to plot how the party could regain the leadership of the legislature it lost due to the defection.
However, the lawmakers acknowledged in the meeting, which started late on Tuesday night in Abuja and ended in the wee hours of yesterday, that it would not be an easy ride for them to unseat Tambuwal, in view of the support he enjoys among his colleagues and the inability of PDP members to muster the required two-third majority to force him out as Speaker.
New Telegraph quotes a source privy to deliberations at the PDP House caucus meeting as disclosing that among the options considered was the summoning of an emergency meeting of the House before the December 3 resumption date, supposedly to receive the 2015 budget proposal. It was gathered that reconvening the House before the December 3 was one of the options discussed at the meeting between the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) and members of the PDP in the House as a way of forcing Tambuwal to resign or be impeached.
DailyPost recalls that Tambuwal had adjourned further sittings of the House until December 3 to enable members participate in their parties’ primaries ahead of the 2015 general election. He was smart enough to notify his colleagues of his membership of the APC before hitting the gravel signaling the adjournment of the House. However, the PDP NWC, which swiftly met with party members in the House after Tambuwal announced his defection at plenary on Tuesday, issued a statement calling on the speaker to “do the needful.”
The source explained that it was mulled for President Goodluck Jonathan to write the House that he intends to present the 2015 Appropriation Bill in November to enable the lawmakers to pass it before proceeding on Christmas break. It was calculated that the Speaker would ignore the letter on the pretext that the House was on break, thus allowing PDP lawmakers to cash in on his refusal to collect signatures from their members to get the required one third to reconvene the House. With 188 members in the House, the PDP believes it will be able to collect enough signatures to meet the one-third requirement, which is 120 of the 360-member House.
Although the new House Standing Orders do not make provision for convening an emergency session, the PDP wants to capitalize on the general provision of quorum for plenary sittings to execute its agenda. Order IV Rule 16 (1) states that “the quorum of the House shall not be less than one-third of all the members of the House.”
The source continued: “So many options were tabled at the meeting but members told the leadership of the party (PDP) that it would be difficult to impeach Tambuwal. However, one option that was explored was to try to reopen the House before December 3 to receive the budget proposal. The idea is that the presidency, will in the letter state that since we are going into an election year, it is a matter of urgent national importance that the budget be submitted in November so that it can be passed in December.”

Nigeria Police confirm withdrawal of Tambuwal’s security details

Nigeria Police confirm withdrawal of Tambuwal’s security details

October 30, 2014 Sani Tukur

The Nigeria Police have confirmed the withdrawal of the security details of the House of Representatives’ speaker, Aminu Tambuwal.
A statement by the police spokesperson, Emmanuel Ojukwu, said Mr. Tambuwal was stripped of state protection because he decamped from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
The statement reads: “In view of the recent defection by the Right Honourable Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, CFR, the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, from the People Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressive Congress (APC), and having regard to the clear provision of section 68(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has redeployed its personnel attached to his office.
Read our previous report below:
The security details of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, have been removed two days after Mr. Tambuwal formally declared his defection from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to All Progressives Congress APC.
Police officers, State Security agents and members of the Civil Defence force who protect the speaker were withdrawn early Thursday on the orders of President Goodluck Jonathan, various sources told PREMIUM TIMES Thursday.
All armed Nigerian government forces report directly to the president.
Government sources said Mr. Jonathan convened a top secret meeting Wednesday night to discuss Mr. Tambuwal’s defection.
In attendance at the meeting were members of the National Working Committee of the ruling PDP, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Muhammed Adoki, some PDP governors as well as PDP members of the House of Representatives.
Mr. Tambuwal, who had long identified with the APC, announced a formal defection Tuesday and promptly adjourned the House of Representatives to forestall any backlash from the ruling PDP.
The PDP called for his resignation.
On Wednesday, the speaker, a three-term member of the House, attended a mini-convention of the APC, arriving at the venue of the event in Abuja to a rapturous welcome.
He condemned his former party as being led by a cabal and vowed that his new party will “sweep” off the ruling party after 15 years in power.
A source close to the camp of the speaker said “the tumultuous welcome accorded the speaker at the convention and the overwhelming outpouring of goodwill from the general public is said to have rattled the presidency resulting in their frenzied reaction”.
“Early this morning, few minutes after midnight to be precise, top level security report informed the Speaker that orders have been given for the withdrawal of his security details,” the source, who declined to be named because he is not permitted to speak to the media, said.
The source said the speaker had been informed that the governing party, PDP, will file a legal challenge against him for retaining his seat Thursday.
“The ironic thing here is why not wait for the verdict before any action is taken?” the source said.
Mr. Tambuwal’s spokesperson, Imam Imam, could not be immediately reached for comments.

Keshi set to return as Super Eagles Coach

Keshi set to return as Super Eagles Coach

October 30, 2014 Tunde Eludini

There are fresh indications that Coach Stephen Keshi may soon return as the Super Eagles’ coach.
Keshi, who only exited the exalted position two weeks ago, is said to have been re-contacted and may return to continue as the national team coach in a few days’ time.
While official confirmation is still being awaited, sources close to the Big Boss confirmed the development even as the  Super Eagles media officer, Toyin Ibitoye, made the announcement via Twitter.
“Keshi Returns as @NGSuperEagles Coach,” Ibitoye tweeted on Thursday morning.
Keshi’s reign as the national team gaffer was brought to an abrupt end on October 16 despite leading Nigeria to a 3-1 victory over Sudan at the Abuja national stadium in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match.
The Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, in Keshi’s place had named a consortium of coaches to be supervised by veteran tactician, Amodu Shaibu.
The trio of Gbenga Ogunbote, Salisu Yusuf and Alloy Agu were listed to assist Amodu.
Before now the factional leader of the NFF, Chris Giwa had also kicked against Keshi’s exit in the middle of  the ongoing AFCON qualifiers and supposedly upturned the decision.
Indeed, opinion has been divided on the plausibility of keeping or reliving the Big Boss of the national team duties as some argue that he should at least be left to complete the qualifiers.
Nigeria are currently third in their qualifying group and would need to win their last two matches to have a realistic chance of qualification.

In U.S. Ebola fight, no two quarantines are quite the same

© Press Herald/Getty Images Kaci Hickox and boyfriend Ted Wilbur take questions from the press regarding the state of Maine's quarantine policy outside Wilbur's home in Fort Kent, ME, October 29, 2014.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - In the U.S. battle against Ebola, quarantine rules depend on your zip zode.
For some it may feel like imprisonment or house arrest. For others it may be more like a staycation, albeit one with a scary and stressful edge.
If they are lucky, the quarantined may get assigned a case worker who can play the role of a personal concierge by buying groceries and running errands. Some authorities are allowing visitors, or even giving those in quarantine permission to take trips outside to walk the dog or take a jog.
A month after the first confirmed case of Ebola in the United States, state and local health authorities across the country have imposed a hodgepodge of often conflicting rules.
Fears about a possible U.S. outbreak were reignited after American doctor Craig Spencer was hospitalized with Ebola in New York last Thursday after helping treat patients in West Africa, the epicenter of the worst outbreak on record.
Some states, such as New York and New Jersey, have gone as far as quarantining all healthy people returning from working with Ebola patients in West Africa. Others, such as Virginia and Maryland, said they will monitor returning healthcare workers and only quarantine those who had unprotected contact with patients. For a factbox, see:
In Minnesota, people being monitored by the state's health department are banned from going on trips on public transit that last longer than three hours - the aim being to reduce exposure to others if someone does start to develop symptoms during a journey. But people with known exposure to Ebola patients will be restricted to their homes without any physical contact allowed.
Spencer's case has fanned public fears about the deadly virus, pressuring U.S. politicians to bring in harsh quarantine measures. Health experts have criticized such moves, noting the virus can only be transmitted through bodily fluids once an infected person has symptoms, from a fever to vomiting or diarrhea.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has tried to establish a national standard, recommending on Monday that only people who had direct contact with Ebola patients without any protective gear submit to isolation at home for 21 days, the maximum period for symptoms to develop. They would still be allowed to go outside on a jog or to walk their dogs, but cannot come within three feet of others or visit places with groups of people, such as a restaurant.
SMALLER DETAILS
The smaller details - ranging from how groceries are delivered to who can visit - differ by state and even by city.
Three people who came into close contact with Spencer, including his fiancée, Morgan Dixon, are each being looked after by two case workers. One of the workers is from the New York City health department, and monitors their temperatures and watches for other signs of illness. The other is from the city's social services department, and acts as a kind of round-the-clock concierge.
For some, the difficulties of being confined alone in a small apartment are beginning to take their toll.
"We have noticed in the past few days it has become much more difficult for the people in terms of the stress levels that one would experience being physically on your own,” said Dr. Jay Varma, a deputy commissioner at the city’s health department, in a telephone interview. “It’s quite an emotional challenge to be separated from your regular social network.”
On Wednesday evening, the city told the three people under quarantine that they could have relatives and friends to visit after all - previously they had been barred. As long as a health worker has come by that day to check that the quarantined person is still not showing symptoms, up to three people can come over at any one time provided they aren’t themselves ill.
The visitors can behave normally, hugging or sharing a meal with the quarantined if they want, Varma said. A friend or relative may even move in for the rest of the confinement if they like, he added.
PROBLEM SOLVING
Still, mundane problems can be more difficult than normal to solve. For example, the oven broke down in the apartment of one of Spencer’s quarantined friends, and the case worker had to cast about for someone willing to come in and fix it. Not an easy task, though someone has now been found to do so, said Varma.
Police officers are posted outside all three apartment buildings, not only to keep journalists and other unwanted people out, but to keep the quarantined in, Varma said. “We’ve instructed our officers to not use physical force,” he said, “but to attempt to explain to somebody why they should be staying there."
If someone does leave, the officer will raise the alarm with the health department, Varma said.
Dixon, 30, could not be reached for comment, and the other friends of Spencer’s have not been publicly identified..
Kaci Hickox, a nurse who arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport on Friday after working with Doctors Without Borders in Sierra Leone, found herself in much bleaker surroundings for the first few days of her quarantine.
New Jersey officials confined her to a tent without a flushing toilet and no shower. It was cold, Hickox said in an article decrying her conditions as a breach of her rights, and the paper clothes they gave her were scratchy.
She has since returned to her home state of Maine but has refused to comply with orders of an in-state home quarantine, the state's health department said. Hickox says she will fight Maine's quarantine order in court if it is not lifted.
Hickox's defiance did not sit well with Maine’s Republican Governor Paul LePage, who said he would seek legal authority to keep her isolated at home until Nov. 10.
NO EVIDENCE
"This an overly extreme and non-evidence-based policy," said Dr. Anthony Harris, an infectious disease expert at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. "There's no reason to have policies with that level of detail because there's no risk."
In Illinois, health department officials expect family members and friends to deliver food to quarantined individuals, said Melaney Arnold, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health. The Red Cross in Chicago will provide those quarantined with gift cards for food and other products, said Julie Morita, chief medical officer at the Chicago Department of Public Health.
Illinois has yet to work out who, if anyone, will pay for three weeks of missed work time, but said it expects employers to cover the cost.
One question that none of the state health officials contacted by Reuters could answer was whether the 21-day mandatory quarantines applied to health workers who had arrived from West Africa before the rules were in place but who may still be at risk of infection.
"I don’t know that it needs to be retroactive," Illinois spokeswoman Arnold said. "They’re not putting others at risk."
(Editing by Michele Gershberg and Martin Howell)

Help for Middle East Christians

© Provided by Tribune Content Agency

American Christians have been slow to the point of near silence when it comes to speaking out about the atrocities committed against their fellow believers by the Islamic State in Iraq (ISIS). The Jewish people are much better models in solidarity when Jews are persecuted.
Members of ISIS have targeted Christian churches, destroyed symbols of Christian faith and killed Christians because of their beliefs, but from American Christians we hear very little. Even President Obama, a self-described Christian, rarely speaks about the persecuted.
Reality television producer Mark Burnett and his actress wife, Roma Downey, are trying to raise awareness and money to help displaced and threatened Iraqi Christians who survived the genocidal attacks against them.
Burnett and Downey, who produced the highly-rated "The Bible" for The History Channel and are working on another biblical epic, "A.D.", which NBC will broadcast next Easter season, have announced a campaign to raise $25 million to aid homeless Christians in the region with housing, food and clothing. They say they are donating the first $1 million and have set up a website called "The Cradle of Christianity Fund" through which people can give. They promise the money will go directly to the churches for distribution to those in need.
Twenty-five million is more than the European Commission's entire 2014 humanitarian budget of $17 million euro ($21.6 million USD), which goes to aid "internally displaced Iraqis in the country and Iraqi refugees in Jordan and Lebanon."
Johnnie Moore, Mark Burnett's chief of staff, recently returned from the region. In an email he reports, "The need is simply overwhelming. There are over 800,000 displaced people in Kurdistan alone. According to the United Nations, if it operates at 100 percent efficiency, it can only take care of 40 percent of these desperate people."
In a cruel twist to the Book of Exodus story about Jews marking their doorposts in Egypt with blood so they would be passed over when the Angel of Death struck down every firstborn male, Christian homes across northern Iraq have been marked by ISIS fighters with the Arabic letter for "N," which means Nazarene, a reference to the hometown of Jesus. They have reportedly been given a choice: convert to Islam, leave the country, or be killed.
As Moore writes: "In the northern Iraqi town of Mosul (where Jonah is buried) most (Christians) fled in the middle of the night, before the evil arrived, with nothing but the clothes on their backs. And now winter is coming. For the first time since the 4th century -- when a monk named Matthew fled Roman persecution and established a monastery in Mosul -- there is no church in Mosul. Make no mistake, this is evil's goal for the region ... a goal that will be achieved if good people do nothing."
Fighting ISIS and other branches of Islamic extremism will take more than airstrikes. Iraqi Christians need to know that not only American Christians, but Jews and people of other and no particular faith stand against genocide with more than statements of condemnation.
Hollywood celebrities are known for promoting humanitarian efforts. Helping Iraqi Christians should be included in that work and not limited just to Christians. Jews and people of other faiths, or none, should fight evil deeds with good deeds. If one faith is under attack and there is little or no pushback, other faiths are potential targets. Only light can dispel darkness.
The One these Iraqi Christians follow warned of persecution for those who proclaim His name. That does not excuse anyone from remaining silent when persecution occurs.
If American Christians won't help their Iraqi brethren, who will? If they refuse to help, the terrorists win. My online contribution is on the way.
(Cal Thomas' latest book is "What Works: Common Sense Solutions for a Stronger America" is available in bookstores now. Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribune.com.)

Hillary Clinton: Ernst avoiding press should be ‘disqualifying’

© Provided by The Hill Hillary Clinton: Ernst avoiding press should be ‘disqualifying’ CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Hillary Clinton is turning up the heat on Republican hopeful Joni Ernst for skipping meetings with newspaper editorial boards, calling it a “disqualifying” factor in the Iowa Senate race.
“You test your candidates. You force them to be the best they can be — I understand that,” Clinton, the former secretary of State and failed 2008 presidential candidate, told about 400 supporters at a rally at a union hall for Ernst’s Democratic opponent, Rep. Bruce Braley.
“They have to be willing to answer the tough questions, which Bruce has been willing to do and his opponent has not,” she continued. “It really seems like it should be disqualifying in Iowa of all states to avoid answering questions.”
Last week, Ernst, an Iowa state senator, came under fire for nixing a previously scheduled meeting with The Des Moines Register, the state’s largest newspaper, saying she already knew it was endorsing Braley.
She’s also declined to meet with other newspapers in the state, though she has answered questions from reporters on the road.
“It was quite evident where they stood in this race and they were going to endorse my opponent,” Ernst told CNN when asked about the cancelled meeting.
After the get-out-the-vote rally, Clinton and Braley were headed to the Quad Cities region for another event with supporters. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, arrives in Iowa Saturday to headline Braley’s annual blues and barbecue fundraiser.
The former first lady’s visit came on the same day a Quinnipiac University poll showed Ernst leading Braley by 49 percent to 45 percent, a 4-point lead outside the margin of error. Braley’s campaign countered by releasing its own internal poll revealing that the race was all tied up at 47 percent each.
Braley tweeted that he and Clinton were headed to the Hamburg Inn, a popular diner in Iowa City about 30 miles away.
On my way to @HamburgInn with @HillaryClinton See you there! @TeamBraley
— Bruce Braley (@BruceBraley) October 30, 2014

Catholic Church to close, merge a dozen schools in Chicago

CHICAGO - The Catholic Church will close or merge a dozen of its 240 Chicago-area schools due to falling attendance in some areas of the country's largest parochial school system, the Archdiocese of Chicago said on Wednesday.
"We will not be able to maintain all schools in their current form," outgoing Cardinal Francis George said in a letter posted on the website of the archdiocese, which has a deficit of millions of dollars.
Six schools would close in June 2015 while another six would merge into three, affecting 1,280 elementary school students, it said.
The archdiocese ran nearly 500 schools in the 1970s.
"Even though our costs are still significantly lower than those of the public school system, expenses have risen significantly over the past decades and the cost of a Catholic education is now beyond what many families can afford," the letter said.
© REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi American Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of Chicago, attends a news conference at the North American College in Rome March 4, 2013. The archdiocese's school budget was $337 million in the financial year ended June 2013, with expenses slightly exceeding revenues from tuition and fees, according to a public financial report.
The schools that will be shut down or merged have average enrollment of only 145, below the required minimum of 225, wrote George, who is suffering from kidney cancer and will retire in November and be replaced by Archbishop Blase Cupich.
Parochial schools, which are cheaper than other private schools, have long been an option for Chicago families looking for schools that perform better than their local public school. But families with household incomes of $40,000 or less can no longer pay the average $4,500 per student tuition at area Catholic schools, George noted.
He said the Archdiocese had launched a campaign to raise a $150 million endowment fund for scholarships to help families pay for schooling and guarantee the viability of Chicago's Catholic schools.
Across the United States there are 6,685 Catholic schools and average tuition is $3,673 for elementary parish schools and $9,622 for freshman tuition at a high school. Around the country, 82,000 children attend Catholic elementary and high schools, and 148 schools closed or consolidated last year while 28 new schools opened, according to the website of the National Catholic Educational Association.
The Chicago archdiocese covers an area larger than Chicago city proper, where dozens of public schools have been shut in recent years due to a declining population and tight budgets.
(Editing by Eric Walsh)

First vaccine for deadly form of meningitis approved in U.S.

© Reuters/Harrison McClary A medical technician, prepares samples in the specimen set-up area of the Vanderbilt Clinical Microbiology Lab for patient care, where the fungal meningitis outbreak was first diagnosed, in Nashville, Tennessee on…
When meningitis outbreaks sickened students at Princeton and at the University of California at Santa Barbara last year, the schools had to seek special permission to vaccinate their students, using a vaccine that was not yet approved for use in the United States.
On Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration approved a vaccine for the first time for the deadly type of meningitis that affected the students. The vaccine, Trumenba, protects against serogroup B, one of five forms of bacterial meningitis. It is manufactured by Pfizer.
The FDA accelerated the approval of Trumenba, completing the approval process in “well under six months,” the typical time frame for completing even a priority review of a new drug, Dr. Karen Midthun said in a conference call with reporters Thursday.
Midthun, the director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said that the 2013 outbreaks “underscored the urgent public health need” for a vaccine for serogroup B meningcoccal disease in the United States.
Two existing vaccines, Menactra and Menveo, prevent the other four types of bacterial meningitis and are currently recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for all preteens and adolescents. Many schools and colleges require students to receive a meningitis vaccine before enrolling.
The CDC did not immediately respond to questions on Thursday about whether it would start recommending Trumenba for all adolescents or just for use in locations where a meningitis outbreak is occurring.
Serogroup B meningitis caused 160 of the 500 cases of meningococcal disease in the country in 2012, according to the CDC. The agency said that 10 to 15 percent of these cases are fatal. Among those who survive, 11 to 19 percent suffer permanent disabilities, including limb loss, hearing loss and brain damage.
The outbreaks on the two university campuses in 2013 killed one student at Drexel University, who had come into contact with Princeton students, and caused a student in California to lose both of his feet. In September, a Georgetown University sophomore died of serogroup B, in what the university said was an isolated case.
Viral meningitis, though less serious than the bacterial form of the disease, also causes inflammation of the tissue around the brain and spinal cord. There is no vaccine for the illness, which is rarely fatal. Viral meningitis has been reported this month in up to 19 students at the University of Maryland at College Park and a teacher at a District preschool.
Bexsero, the Novartis vaccine administered at the universities last year with special FDA permission, had been approved for use in Europe and Australia, while the U.S. had no serogroup B vaccine.
As part of getting speedy approval, Pfizer has agreed to keep testing the vaccine. Three studies in the U.S. and Europe, involving about 2,800 adolescents, demonstrated that the vaccine generated antibodies in the blood of 82 percent of participants. The antibodies can kill four strains of serogroup B, according to the FDA.
The further testing will evaluate whether the vaccine is effective at creating antibodies that kill additional strains.
Pfizer said in a press release that the new vaccine must be administered in three doses over the course of six months. It is approved for use in people ages 10 to 25, a key group for meningitis cases, which can easily spread among students living in close quarters in dormitories.
Midthun, of the FDA, said that manufacturers might eventually develop one shot containing the vaccines for all five types of bacterial meningitis. But right now, full protection would require three doses of Trumenba in addition to an existing meningitis vaccine, for which the CDC recommends an initial shot and a later booster.

Jeb Bush swipes at Hillary Clinton in Colorado

© AP Photo/Brennan Linsley Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks during a voting rally for state Republican candidates, in Castle Rock, Colo., Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014. Senate candidate Cory Gardner and gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez… CASTLE ROCK, Colo. — In a possible preview of a 2016 presidential race, former Florida governor Jeb Bush took a swipe at Hillary Clinton on Wednesday evening as he stumped for Republican candidates in the vital swing state of Colorado.
Bush was in Colorado one day after former President Bill Clinton departed the state and a little more than a week after Hillary Clinton was last there — an indication of both the intensity of the state's top race pitting Democratic Sen Mark Udall against his Republican challenger, Rep. Cory Gardner, as well as Colorado's oversized role in recent presidential elections. During a rally for the Republican ticket at a county fairground in this conservative Denver suburb, Bush, without mentioning her name, alluded to comments Hillary Clinton made while stumping for Democrats on Friday.
"This last week I saw something that was breathtaking, a candidate — a former secretary of state who was campaigning in Massachusetts — where she said that 'don't let them tell you that businesses create jobs.' "
Bush paused as the audience booed. "Well the problem in America today is that not enough jobs are being created, (but) they are created by business," Bush continued.
Clinton said the statement was a slip of the tongue, but Republicans eager to tarnish her image before a 2016 campaign have used it to mock her all week. Bush, a former Florida governor and a brother of former President George W. Bush, is one of many Republicans mulling a 2016 run. Another expected 2016 Republican contender, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, will campaign with Gardner and the GOP's gubernatorial candidate in Colorado, former Rep. Bob Beauprez, on Thursday.
Bush is fluent in Spanish and seen by many Republicans as his party's best candidate to reach out to the fast-growing Hispanic population, which is trending Democratic. Earlier Wednesday, he appeared with Gardner and Beauprez at Denver's Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, where he took questions from Spanish-language media about immigration.
The former Florida governor warned against President Barack Obama's expected executive action to limit deportations, promised for some time shortly after the election. Instead, Bush said Congress needs to pass a bill and that a newly Republican Congress would solve the nation's immigration woes — although the Republican-controlled House refused to vote on a major immigration bill this year.
"The constitution requires Congress to pass laws, not the president," Bush said in Spanish, contrasting that with some Latin American strongmen's ability to implement laws by fiat. If Obama acts unilaterally on immigration, Bush warned, "it will be harder to do it the appropriate way." © AP Photo/Brennan Linsley Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush pauses while speaking during a voting rally for state Republican candidates, in Castle Rock, Colo., Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014. Senate candidate Cory Gardner and gubernatorial candidate…

Microsoft Takes Another Stab at Health Market with Cloud Service, $199 Fitness Band

   
© Microsoft microsoft-band_hero_2
Microsoft on Wednesday is taking the wraps off a long-expected wearable that will plug into a new Microsoft Health fitness tracking service.
Microsoft Band, as the product is known, will go on sale Thursday for $199 and be available at Microsoft’s physical and online stores. The device, which somewhat resembles Samsung’s Gear Fit, is designed to last 48 hours on a single charge and to be worn all day to track both sleep and exercise as well as receive smartphone notifications.
The band has 10 sensors to track the usual things like heart rate as well as more novel detectors, including a UV sensor for sun exposure and a galvanic skin response measurement which can help identify stress. The Microsoft Health cloud-based service will be able to crunch numbers from data gathered from either Microsoft’s band as well as data from other devices, including rival smartphones and fitness bands. A companion app for iOS, Android and Windows Phone offers a deeper look at the data gathered by the band.
It’s not Microsoft’s first effort to play a role in digital health. It launched HealthVault back in 2007. Microsoft says the new service can plug into HealthVault, which is more focused on medical records than personal fitness data.
Nor is Microsoft alone among tech giants in this space, with Apple having its HealthKit initiative and Google having its Google Fit effort. Samsung also announced a similar effort to Microsoft’s earlier this year.
Microsoft is leaning on the fact that it works with all the major mobile ecosystems as a key selling point.
“We are as open as you get,” Matt Barlow, GM, new devices marketing. “We are iOS we are Android and we are windows phone.”
With Windows Phone you also get voice access to Microsoft’s Cortana assistant, but otherwise Band works similarly across platforms, Barlow said.
The company also notes that–if customers want to– Microsoft Health can combine work and personal data and gather insights such as how a big meeting with the boss affects that night’s sleep. Other features include access to Facebook and Twitter feeds, as well as weather and stock data.
The company had planned to announce the news later on Wednesday, but it leaked out after the company posted details of the companion Windows Phone app, an Android App and a Mac app ahead of the official announcement.
Microsoft hopes the features will grow over time. It is working with a bunch of partners, including fitness tracking app makers MapMyFitness and RunKeeper, hardware maker Jawbone and Starbucks, with the last one allowing users to pay for their coffee using only a gift card barcode on the watch.
Longtime Microsoft executive Yusuf Mehdi has been among those spearheading Microsoft’s latest fitness efforts, along with corporate VP Todd Holmdahl.

Man's own dog helps police bust him on drug charge

© AP Photo/Prattville Police Department This Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014, photo, provided by the Prattville Police Department shows Edward Melvin Henderson's dog, named Bo, in Prattville, Ala. Bo followed his fleeing master, who was… Police in central Alabama say a man's own dog helped officers bust him on a drug charge.
Prattville Police spokeswoman Paula Barlow says the pooch named Bo followed his fleeing master, who was being pursued by officers. When the dog stopped and wagged his tail in tall grass, she says, officers found and arrested Edwin Henderson.
Barlow says the chase began when two drug officers arrived Wednesday with a search warrant and Henderson took off running.
After an investigator pointed at Henderson and told the dog "go get him," that's what Bo did.
Barlow says Henderson is charged with failure to obey police, manufacturing a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. It's unclear if he has an attorney, and there's no word on who's taking care of Bo.

Saudi Arabia finds six new MERS cases as outbreak grows

© FAISAL AL NASSER/Newscom/Reuters Saudi Arabia said people handling camels should wear masks and gloves to prevent spreading Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).
RIYADH - Saudi Arabia said late on Wednesday it had detected six new cases of the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 24 hours, the biggest daily jump for months with officials blaming lax hospital procedures.
The recent surge in cases, now numbering 32 since the start of October, has been focused in Riyadh and the western city of Taif, but it remains far less extensive than an outbreak in April and May that infected hundreds.
MERS causes coughing, fever and sometimes pneumonia, killing around 40 percent of its victims. The vast majority of confirmed cases worldwide have been found in Saudi Arabia, where 786 people have been infected, of whom 334 have died.
Two of the new cases announced by the health ministry were in medical personnel, adding to concerns about the standard of infection control procedures in medical facilities. Three different Taif hospitals have been affected.
Some of the people infected with MERS in Taif this month were being treated in one renal clinic in a hospital in the city, which authorities regard as being responsible for some of the transmissions, a senior Health Ministry official said.
"The secret here of success is not to prevent the cases to be introduced to the community... the success is to control the transmission within health facilities," Abdulaziz bin Saeed, undersecretary for public health told Reuters.
He added that medical personnel may have relaxed their infection control standards after the kingdom's last outbreak before the summer ebbed, but that the ministry had intervened to improve procedures in Taif hospitals.
The six new cases confirmed on Wednesday included three in Taif, where five others have fallen ill this month, two in Riyadh, where six others have been diagnosed with MERS since the start of October, and one in Hafr al-Batin, near Kuwait.
Cases of MERS have been found in other countries since the virus was identified in 2012, including in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, but most of them were in people who had recently traveled to Saudi Arabia.
Scientists are not sure of the origin of the virus, but several studies have linked it to camels and some experts think it is being passed to humans through close physical contact or through the consumption of camel meat or camel milk.
The disease can then spread between people, and the largest previous outbreaks, including one in Jeddah in April and May that infected hundreds, have been linked to poor infection control procedures in hospitals.
(Reporting by Angus McDowall; Editing by Crispian Balmer)

Israel police kill Palestinian suspect in attack on right-winger

© Provided by AFP Israeli riot police keep watch during clashes with Palestinian demonstrators in Jerusalem on October 26, 2014
Jerusalem police on Thursday killed a Palestinian man suspected of a shooting attack on an Israeli hardliner which left him badly wounded, a spokesman said.
"The Palestinian, who was the main suspect in the Wednesday night attack, was eliminated at his home in Jerusalem's Abu Tor neighbourhood by special police forces following an exchange of fire," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.
Abu Tor straddles the seamline between west Jerusalem and the occupied eastern sector, which was seized by Israel during the 1967 Six Day War.
The suspect's death took place early on Thursday, just hours after a gunman on a motorcycle had opened fire at a rightwing Jewish activist called Yehuda Glick, leaving him critically wounded.
His condition improved overnight to serious but stable, the hospital said.
Glick, who is known for his lobbying to secure Jewish prayer rights at the Al Aqsa mosque compound, had just attended a debate on the issue at the Menachem Begin Heritage Centre.
Sacred to both Jews and Muslims, the flashpoint Al Aqsa mosque compound houses Islam's third holiest site, but is also revered as the most sacred spot for Jews who refer to the site as the Temple Mount due to the fact it once housed the two Jewish temples.
Although non-Muslims are allowed to visit the site, Jews are not allowed to pray there. Rumours that Israel was poised to legislate changes to the status quo have triggering weeks of unrest and clashes in and around the plaza.
Glick has campaigned for years for Jews to be allowed to pray at the Temple Mount.

Ebola: Better Maps Could Have Helped Fight Virus

Ivan Gaytan, technology advisor to MSF, told Sky News the disease is "preventable" and could have been "easier to contain" if there was more knowledge of the region.
He said: "In any country where Ebola or any other infectious disease arrives, if you already have a good map which actually reflects the way people describe geography, you set up your clinical activities to take that data in the first place in the right way."
MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders, will launch a project next month called Missing Maps, which lets anyone, anywhere in the world, annotate maps to show dwellings and infrastructure.
Volunteers are mapping regions within the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan in the hope that, if an outbreak occurs, more accurate maps will help health workers respond quicker.
Knowing where people live and what infrastructure they use is vital to dealing with public health emergencies.
These maps will provide important information for NGOs and public health officials.
Liz Hughes, the CEO of MapAction, told Sky News: "You could look at Ebola and say it's an emergency that is a geographic emergency.
"It's really important to stop the transmission of disease, and you do that by identifying where the highest infection rates are - so being able to map that picture.
"Where people have contracted Ebola, where they're moving to, where the treatment centres are, whether they're in the right places - all of that can be mapped to help decision makers work out where to put resources."
Mobile phone data is also helping to create new types of maps.
This week, IBM Research unveiled a system to let people in Sierra Leone report Ebola-related issues and to track the disease.
Swedish NGO Flowminder has also been analysing the movements of thousands of mobile phone users.

Sweden to officially recognize Palestinian state on Thursday

STOCKHOLM - Sweden's center-left government will officially recognize the state of Palestine on Thursday, becoming the first major European country to do so, Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said.
Prime Minister Stefan Lofven told parliament in his inaugural address in October that his Social Democrat government would deliver on a manifesto promise to recognize a Palestinian state, drawing criticism from Israel and the United States.
"Today's recognition is a contribution to a better future for a region that has for too long been characterized by frozen negotiations, destruction and frustration," Wallstrom wrote in the daily Dagens Nyheter.
"Some will state this decision comes too soon. I am afraid, rather, that it is too late."
Palestinians seek statehood in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the blockaded Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as their capital. They have sought to sidestep stalled peace talks by lobbying foreign powers to recognize their sovereignty claim.
Wallstrom said Sweden's move aimed at supporting moderate Palestinians and making their status more equal with that of Israel in peace negotiations, as well as giving hope to young people on both sides.
The U.N. General Assembly approved the de facto recognition of the state of Palestine in 2012, but the European Union and most EU countries have yet to give official recognition.
"EU members confirmed in 2009 their readiness to recognize the state of Palestine when it was appropriate," Wallstrom said.
"We are now ready to take the lead. We hope this can show the way for others."
Wallstrom said despite the fact that Palestinian authorities did not have full control of their land and the country did not have fixed borders, Palestine fulfilled the criteria in international law for recognition.
"Together with other European countries, as well as the United States and other regional and international organizations, the government will now work to support renewed negotiations to reach a final agreement," Wallstrom said.
(Reporting by Simon Johnson; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)