Lead poisoning kills 100 children in Nigeria

Nigeria - lead poisoning kills 100 children in north.

More than 100 children have died of lead poisoning in Nigeria in recent weeks, health officials say.

The number has been rising since March, when residents started digging illegally for gold in areas with high concentrations of lead.

The victims were from several remote villages in the northern state of Zamfara.

A total of 163 out of 355 cases of poisoning have proved fatal, a Nigerian health ministry official told Reuters.

Dr Henry Akpan, the health ministry's chief epidemiologist, said: "[The victims] were digging for gold, but the areas also have large concentrations of lead."

Health authorities have set up two camps in the area to treat people who are suffering symptoms of lead poisoning.
Contaminated water?

The deaths were discovered during the country's annual immunisation programme, when officials realised there were virtually no children in several remote villages in the northern state, says the BBC's Abdullai Kaura Abubakar in Kaduna.

Villagers said the children had died of malaria and it was only when a team from international aid agency Medecins Sans Frontiers took blood tests from local people that the high concentrations of lead were discovered.

Zamfara State had recently employed a Chinese company to mine gold in the area, adds our correspondent.

But villagers had also attempted to capitalise by digging for the precious metal themselves - an illegal activity in Nigeria.

It is likely locals became sick after lead removed during the process of refining gold ore contaminated local water systems, our correspondent says.

Jonathan sworn as president in Nigeria

Nigeria's Goodluck Jonathan sworn in as president

Nigeria's acting President Goodluck Jonathan has been sworn in as head of state following the death of President Umaru Yar'Adua after a long illness.

Mr Jonathan, in charge since February, will appoint a deputy and serve out the rest of the current presidential term until elections due next year.

Mr Yar'Adua died late on Wednesday in the capital Abuja. TV broadcasts were interrupted with the news.

Seven days of national mourning have been announced.

Mr Jonathan took the oath of office in front of government ministers and other officials at the presidential villa in Abuja almost 12 hours after Mr Yar'Adua died. The ceremony was performed by the chief justice of Nigeria, Alloysius Katsina-Alu.

Mr Jonathan put on a sash bearing the green, yellow and white colours of Nigeria, signifying he had formally taken over as president.

Afterwards he made a brief address, saying his administration would focus on good governance, electoral reform and the fight against corruption.

"One of the true tests will be that all votes count, and are counted, in our upcoming presidential election," he said.

Mr Yar'Adua, who was 58, will be buried in a Muslim ceremony later on Thursday in his northern home state of Katsina, officials said.

US President Barack Obama has led tributes from world leaders, praising Mr Yar'Adua's profound personal decency and integrity" and his "passionate belief in the vast potential and bright future of Nigeria's 150 million people".

Mr Yar'Adua had been absent from the political scene since November, when he went to a hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for several months.

He returned to Nigeria in February but remained too sick to govern.

A presidential spokesman said at the time that he was being treated for acute pericarditis, an inflammation of the lining around the heart.

His long absence and the lack of detailed information about his health led to a political limbo in Nigeria, which was only filled when Mr Jonathan was named as acting president.

FIFA rankings 2010 - Complete list

FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings 2010 have been released.

February 04 2010 : The Indian national team has moved up four places to 130 according to the February FIFA rankings.

This improvement came despite the fact that India didn't play a senior international in either December or January.

The senior team's last match was the final of the Nehru Cup back in August, which they won by beating Syria in the final.

Bob Houghton's team are scheduled to play two friendly matches in February but that won't be considered for the FIFA Rankings as the opposition are two club sides from UAE- Al Shaab and Al Nasr.

Fiji are placed just above India at 129 while Guatemala are placed 131st.

India have also moved up four places to 21 in the Asian Rankings.

Egypt number 10 in FIFA rankings.

The Egyptian national football team jumped into the top 10 of FIFA’s – the world football governing body – recent rankings published on Wednesday, marking the first time the African nation has made it this high. Nigera followed Egypt as the second highest ranked African nation, moving up 7 spots to take the 15th position.

Egypt received a boost after winning their third-straight African Cup of Nations on Sunday in Angola. They haven’t lost in the African continental championship since 2004.

Nigeria’s ranking was also boosted by their third place finish in the tournament.

Ironically, Egypt is the only top ranking nation not to make it to the World Cup this summer in South Africa.


Other top ranking African teams include Cameroon, which fell nine places to number 20, and Cote d’Ivoire, which is now ranked 22nd after falling six places.

Nations Cup runners-up, Ghana rose seven places to the 27th position in the world, while Algeria went down five spots to 31. Gabon is now ranked 44, after climbing four places to complete the number of teams from Africa in the top 50.

2010 World Cup host, South Africa, is ranked 81st in the world, with Malawi and Mozambique coming close behind at 82 and 83.

Meanwhile, Spain kept the top spot in the rankings. The United States was unchanged at No. 14, leading the CONCACAF nations. Mexico followed at 17.

European champion, Spain, is followed by Brazil and Netherlands. World champion, Italy, is fourth and Portugal is fifth.

The top nine was unchanged after only No. 8, Argentina, played in the past month, beating Costa Rica 3-2 in a friendly match.

Vietnam jumps seven places in FIFA rankings.

Vietnam’s football team moved up seven places to 116th position in FIFA’s January rankings thanks to good performances during the month.

With the new rating, Vietnam secured second place in Southeast Asia, after Thailand (98th in the FIFA ranking), which also climbed up seven notches. In January, most football teams in the region fell in the ranking, like Indonesia (16 places), Singapore (10) and Myanmar (one).

In Asia, there were almost no remarkable changes in the FIFA rankings, except for China, which became one of the world’s top ten after successfully passing the qualifying round of the 2011 Asian Cup.

The Spanish team is still on top of the FIFA rankings, followed by Brazil and the Netherlands.

FIFA ranking: Poland move up to 57.

The Polish national team have risen up one place in the recent Coca-Cola FIFA ranking update.

In this latest rank chart the white-red now find themselves in the 57th position. In turn, in the first top "10" best included the 2010 African champions Egypt join, which thus is the country's best result in history.

After matches in Thailand at the 40th FAT King's Cup 2010™ the Poles went up slightly in this prestigious classification, which does not alter the fact that they still remain in a shamefully low position.

For the moment supporters can only dream that the team led by Franciszek Smuda rank classification will soon rise as high as The Pharaohs had.

The Egyptians after winning the CAF 2010 African Cup of Nations™ jumped fourteen spots and occupy the high ranked, tenth place.

In the very forefront of the ranking there are no changes. The first still remains as Spain, and behind - Brazil and the Netherlands.

FIFA World rankings: Tunisia drops to 55th position.

The new edition of the FIFA World Rankings for men’s national teams ranks Spain in top spot, just ahead of Brazil.

England maintains its ranking of 9th best team in the world while Argentina is 8th.

Thanks to its performance in the African Cup of Nations, Egypt jumped into the top ten teams to occupy the 10th rank in the FIFA World rankings.

Tunisia in turn drops by two places to 55th position whereas Algeria jumped 23 places to rank 31st.

For Complete list : www.fifa.com

Violence in Nigerian city of Jos - 200 killed

Nigeria religious riots killed 200 people in Jos

January 20 2010 : At least 200 people have been killed in violence between Christians and Muslims in the Nigerian city of Jos, says the monitoring group, Human Rights Watch.

Troops ordered by Nigeria's vice-president to help police restore order have arrived and are patrolling the streets, enforcing a 24-hour curfew. The fighting, which broke out on Sunday, has prompted thousands of people to flee the city.

Houses, mosques and churches have been burnt down and many people arrested. It is believed to be the first time Goodluck Jonathan has used executive powers since President Umaru Yar'Adua left Nigeria for hospital treatment in Saudi Arabia in November.

Lt Col Shekari Galadima, a spokesman for the 3rd Division of the Nigerian Army, told the BBC's Network Africa programme the streets were calm and the troops in control of the situation.

The area has seen several bouts of deadly violence in recent years. At least 200 people were killed in an outbreak of fighting between Muslims and Christians in 2008, while some 1,000 died in a riot in 2001.

The current violence has forced at least 3,000 people from their homes. On Tuesday the violence spread beyond the city boundaries to neighbouring areas.

The death toll has not been verified independently and it is not known how many Christians have died. Human Rights Watch say at least 200 have died in the latest outbreak of violence.

Balarabe Dawud, head of the Central Mosque in Jos, told AFP news agency he had counted 192 bodies since Sunday. Muhammad Tanko Shittu, a mosque worker who was helping to prepare mass burials, told Reuters he had counted 149 bodies.

Jos is in Nigeria's volatile Middle Belt - between the mainly Muslim north and the south where the majority is Christian or follow traditional religions.

Correspondents say such clashes in Nigeria are often blamed on sectarianism. However, poverty and access to resources such as land often lie at the root of the violence.

It is unclear what the trigger was for the latest bout of violence. Plateau State spokesman Dan Manjang told Network Africa there were reports that it may have started after a football match.

But he said it would be surprising if football was the reason. Reuters quoted residents as saying the violence started after an argument over the rebuilding of homes destroyed in the 2008 clashes.

Today News Updates of America and Nigeria

US charges Nigerian suspect over plane bomb plot

January 07 2010 : A US grand jury has indicted Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on six counts over an alleged plot to bomb a plane over Detroit on Christmas Day.

“A liberal Christian, from the southern part of Nigeria” was how a relation leaving for the United States of America tonight said he would introduce himself to the US immigration officials. If they wish to know, he said he intended to also let the Americans know his baptismal name, Jeremiah, even if it does not appear on his passport. Anything that would remove the suspicion of being remotely connected to religious fundamentalism, he said, he would be willing to do, just to get through the US airport and transact his business for a few days in one piece.

Without doubt, my cousin is not alone in this anxious moments by many Nigerians who have genuine reasons to visit America. Every traveller wants to avoid being caught up in the tension that air travellers are being confronted with in the light of the decision by the US Transportation Security Administration to group Nigeria among countries whose nationals visiting the US will henceforth face tougher screening.

What amounts to a blacklist in diplomatic circles of course stemmed from the Christmas Day foiled attempt by a 23-year-old Nigerian, Umar AbdulMutallab, to detonate an explosive on a passenger aircraft on which he was travelling to the US from Amsterdam.

Many people have misunderstood the precise categorisation of Nigeria. To be fair, America has not described us as a state sponsor of terror. For now, only Cuba, Sudan, Syria and Iran are in that expanded ‘axis of evil,’ in the reckoning of the US government. We have only been listed alongside Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Lebanon, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia and Yemen as a “security risk state” which America would closely monitor, with a view to protecting its citizens and interests.

Neither list is good for any country‘s image though. But before one wonders why North Korea is not listed, or why Britain, for the sins of its ‘shoe bomber,’ Richard Reid, does not appear on the list of countries where America has special interest to curtail terrorism, the sole reason Nigeria has suddenly become a target comes down to Mutallabism.

I imagine that if a code would be used in the US intelligence service to justify our inclusion in this odious list, it would not just be because a British-trained young Nigerian engineer got brainwashed in London and Yemen to carry out a terrorist act, but because ours is a land of many souls, more than half of whom are Muslims living largely in an area where extreme religious views, from Maitatsine to Boko Haram and lately, Kala Kato in Bauchi, strayed in once in a while, leaving sorrow, tears and blood on their trail.

But in a country of 140 million people, this single profiling would amount to a shot wide off the mark.

It is, indeed, very likely that AbdulMutallab got indoctrinated by the warped argument that as an unwanted ‘aggressor’ in some Islamic countries in the Middle East, namely Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan, and with an unwavering support for Israel against Palestine, the US government has courted the enmity of some people in the Arab nations. This has always been the central principle in al-Qaeda‘s reactionary an-eye-for-an-eye doctrine.

But at the point that AbdulMutallab succumbed to the brainwashing to rise in defence of the oppressed brothers in “occupied territories,” he was not there as a Nigerian or a representative of the Nigerian State. He was there, apparently, as one who had bonded with that violent principle, essentially out of personal conviction, and perhaps on the strength of his religious affinity.