Reduce Your Bride Price, Ex-military Governor Of Anambra Tells Igbo Parents

Former Military governor of old Anambra State, Col. Robert Akonobi (rtd), has pleaded with Igbo

parents to reduce the bride price of their daughters so that ‘’our young boys can marry them.”

‘’To me, this topic (bride price) has been dealth with in the past by Ndigbo, who came out with a

reduced bride price, to enable our young boys marry our young girls,” Akonobi said.

Akonobi also cautioned that men should study their proposed wives closely and longer before

engaging into marriage because “once you marry, no one else can put it asunder.” He spoke at

the industrial city of Nnewi, Anambra State during the traditional wedding ceremony of the

daughter of a business mogul, Chief Louis Onwugbenu, Onyinye and her husband, Bosah

Chukwuogo, weekend.

Nnewi was agog as dignitaries from all works of life trooped to the residence of Chief Onwugbenu

for the memorable event. The dignitaries who were from both the military, political and

manufacturing circles, including Col Akonobi, Hon. Clement Nwankwu, former member of the

House of Representatives; Chairmen and Chief Executive Officers of Gabros International

Limited and Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Limited, Chief Gabriel and Innocent Chukwuma

respectively, among others.
The issue of high bride price was discussed extensively on the occasion. Hon. Nwankwu, in his

own speech, prayed that Chief Onwugbenu and his wife would live long to enjoy the fruits of their

children, especially those who married from outside their areas.

Also, speaking, Mrs. Onwugbenu expressed gratitude that her daughter’s hand was given out in

marriage and prayed that her in-laws who came all the way from Awka to marry her daughter,

would go back home safely. Father of the bride, Onwugbenu, in his own speech, said he had

already blessed his daughter and her husband to go and make a good home.

On the bride price controversy in Igbo land, Onwugbenu declared: “We do not charge money as

bride price for someone to marry my daughter. To me, what is important is that my daughter

should live in peace with her husband. Let her husband’s family members accept her as part and

parcel of their family.”

Jose Mourinho Lacks Respect – Wenger

Chelsea’s Jose Mourinho lacks respect for his fellow managers, says Arsenal boss Arsene

Wenger.

Mourinho labelled the Gunners “very boring” for going 10 years without winning a trophy.

Mourinho’s comments came after Arsenal fans chanted “boring boring Chelsea” during last

weekend’s 0-0 draw between the sides at the Emirates Stadium, which saw the Blues close in on

the Premier League title.

Wenger was asked about those comments in his pre-match news conference for Monday’s game

with Hull.

“The biggest thing for a manager is to respect other managers. Some people have to improve on

that,” he said.
In February 2014 the Chelsea boss called his opposite number a”specialist in failure”, and then in

October the Gunners boss shoved his rival during a heated touchline quarrel.

Wenger said: “You can have incidents with other managers sometimes. It gets a bit heated when

you fight directly with them, but in the end I believe time heals and the important thing is to

respect each other as much as you can.”

Asked if Mourinho should conduct himself with more dignity, the Arsenal manager answered:

“Look, everybody lives with his own internal problems and I live with mine. That’s enough.”

Jonathan Shuns May Day celebration

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan failed to attend this year’s May Day celebrations in Abuja for

the first time since 2011.

Not only did the President not attend, he also did not send a representative, as the speech read

by the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Senator Joel Danlami Ikenya, ostensibly believed to

be that of the President, was withdrawn by aides of the minister, who explained that the speech

read was that of the minister.

In attendance, however, was the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Bala

Mohammed.

In Lagos, attempts by the Joe Ajaero-led faction of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to hold a

rally at the National Stadium was thwarted by security agents who sealed off the premises to

prevent them from gaining access. They however organised their rally under the bridge adjacent

the stadium.

In his speech, President of NLC, Ayuba Wabba, said the labour movement would closely monitor

the incoming administration of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari in the revival of infrastructure that

would serve as the foundation upon which to drive the country’s economic recovery.

Wabba decried the spending of about $40 billion on electricity by the Peoples Democratic Party

(PDP)-led Federal Government without anything to show for it.

“It is truly tragic that despite sinking a whopping investment in excess of $40 billion for the past

16 years in the power sector, the only proofs we have to show for it are megawatts of darkness

and gigabytes of excuses.

“Currently, power generation in Nigeria hovers around 3,000 megawatts. Yet, the $25 billion

Three Gorges Dam in China generates more than 22,000MW of electricity.

“The excuse of inadequate gas for the power stations is already time-worn. The volume of gas

that has been flared since 1956 when commercial quantities of crude oil and natural gas were

discovered in the oil producing communities of Niger Delta, with all of its environmental and

climatic consequences, is enough proof that blaming gas supply for our perennial national

darkness is what it is- mere excuses,” he stated.

He said the NLC believes that regular power supply would unlock the potentials in the economy.

Wabba then declared that the labour movement would hold the Buhari-led government to account

based on the promises to Nigerians generally and to the working class in particular.

He added: “Apart from the above, the incoming government must revive the Ajaokuta Steel

Complex, conceived to be the cornerstone of our industrialization, but unfortunately, our political

class has refused to accept the simple truth that no country can truly industrialise without any

iron and steel industry.”

He hinted that the NLC would soon set the machinery in motion for the review of the national

minimum wage, which was last raised in 2010. Wabba stated that having implemented the wage

for five years, it was naturally due for re-negotiation, given the prevailing economic realities.

He said: “The first direct symptom of the prevailing economic crunch, the continuous devaluation

of the naira, has dealt devastating blows on the purchasing power of the Nigerian worker. This is

unacceptable!

“The last national minimum wage of N18, 000 is clearly no longer of any meaningful economic

value to workers, as the inflationary trends, engendered by the continuing devaluation of the

naira, has made the minimum wage now grossly inadequate.

“The above situation, plus the fact that the five yearly circle provided for periodic review of the

national minimum wage is almost at hand, we wish to use this May Day to give notice that we

shall formally table a request for a new national minimum wage for the consideration of the

tripartite social partners as soon as the incoming government is sworn in. This has become

pertinent given current economic realities.”

He argued that the continued shrinking of the resources base of Nigeria should naturally call for

urgent innovative ways to diversify the economy.

He stated that the free fall of the price of crude oil in the international market, the gross

mismanagement of national resources by the political class and their cronies in the private sector

and the failure of successive Nigerian governments to build critical infrastructure that can

support the diversification of the national economy, have all contributed to the construction of

current narrative of economic woes.

The labour leader maintained that Buhari must move swiftly to reduce costs of governance, block

leakages, and institute reforms required for speedy economic growth and stability. To make these

happen, he said government needs to be open and transparent, as well as accountable.

He listed organisational unity, promotion of internal democracy, ascendancy of unionisation,

financial independence and solvency of the labour movement, education and training of NLC

members, research and documentation, strengthening the labour-civil society alliances, national

agenda setting on job creation and employment initiatives, national watch on democracy,

development and good governance and building the political power of the labour movement as

main priorities of his administration in the next four years.

For the President of Trade Union Congress (TUC), Bobboi Kaigama, Buhari should focus on the

implementation of short and medium-term goals for the quick-wins, while charting routes for

long-term goals.

Kaigama stated: “We expect the new leadership’s focus to be on soothing the pains of Nigerians

who have constantly been faced with naira devaluation, inflation, corruption, paucity of power,

breach of collective agreements by employers, unfriendly policies of the Bretton Wood

institutions, hike in prices of petroleum products, Boko Haram insurgencies and ethno-religious

violence and kidnapping.

“We also anticipate that the new leadership will provide more socio-economic infrastructure,

maintain existing refineries and build new ones, so that we don’t have to import petroleum

products in a country that produces petroleum.

“If we refine oil within our borders, the current slide in the global prices of oil would have less

adverse effect on our economy.”

Meanwhile, reacting to the stoppage of the usage of the National Stadium in Lagos by the Ajaero

faction, General Secretary of the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of

Nigeria, Issa Aremu, accused Ikenya of backing the Wabba-led faction.

Aremu added: “What is certainly unacceptable is the partiality of the Minister in attending one

May Day in Abuja and using the police to prevent another through a lockout of the National

Stadium to the NLC led by Ajaero. It should be noted that fees had been paid for the use of the

stadium facilities on May Day. Jonathan’s administration cannot at this hour be seen to be unfair

in its dealings with all segments of organized labour.

“We therefore condemn the role played by the Lagos State Commissioner of Police in shutting

down the National Stadium against us. We will be taking legal actions to protect our rights”.

Microsoft Office 365 gets powerful add-in system

Microsoft has announced its Office applications will be able to use add-ins which run across multiple platforms and extend the features of software such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Speaking at Build 2015, Rob Lefferts, general manager of Office Extensibility at Microsoft, demonstrated a number of these add-ins.

Among them was a DocuSign plugin for the new desktop version of Word, which lets you digitally apply signatures to documents.

Lefferts also showed how an add-on for SAP would look the same on Excel for Windows desktop, Excel online, and Excel for iPad.

An add-in for Uber on Microsof’s e-mail and information manager software Outlook was also demonstrated.

The Uber add-in can be used to set ride reminders for meetings, which will trigger notifications on non-Microsoft platforms such as iPhone.

Outlook will then automatically populate the Uber request with the destination set in the calendar entry.

Microsoft boss Satya Nadella said these add-ins for Office 365 will have their access restricted with permissions set using policies and access control lists in Active Directory.

Uber, DocuSign, SAP, LinkedIn, and SalesForce plugins for Office apps have been demonstrated by Microsoft.

EU regulators to Look Into Facebook acquisition of WhatsApp

European Union antitrust regulators will decide by Oct. 3 whether to clear world No. 1 online social network Facebook’s $19 billion offer for mobile messaging start up WhatsApp, the European Commission said on Monday.

Facebook also needs approval for the deal from various places in Europe, and now it looks like the company has come up with an interesting way to get the deal approved in Europe.

Rather than having the acquisition reviewed by different regulators in some European countries, Facebook has gone straight to the EU Regulators, and has asked them to review their plans to take over WhatsApp.

If the European Regulators approve the deal, this means that Facebook will not have to seek any approval from the individual regulators in the various European countries.

The European Commission reviewing a deal like this is nothing new, although this is probably one of the first times that a company involved in deal like this has asked the regulators for approval of the acquisition.

Facebook are obviously hoping that requesting a review of the deal, and also being as upfront as they can about the purchase, will help them get on the right side of the EU regulators, and increase their chances of getting the WhatsApp purchased approved.

Uber blocked in Germany

A US-designed smartphone application that connects passengers with cars for hire was blocked from operation in Germany by court injunction Tuesday

BERLIN -- A court has barred ride sharing service Uber from operating in Germany, the latest shot in the San Francisco company's fight with taxi drivers worldwide.

Frankfurt state court spokesman Arne Hasse said Tuesday the decision that Uber can't offer its services without a specific permit under German transport laws applies nationwide.

The injunction applies pending a full hearing of a suit brought against Uber by Taxi Deutschland, a German cab association that also offers its own taxi-ordering app. The suit is being heard in Frankfurt because it is one of the several German cities in which Uber operates.

The court ruled the app can no longer function within the country without an official permit under the Passenger Transport Act.

The ruling is welcome news for Germany’s official taxi companies, which have long charged that the app side-steps regulations and operates without adherence to safety standards.

Uber promised to appeal. “We will fight the decision and defend our rights to the last,” the company said in a statement.

“We believe that competition is good for everyone,” it said. “That’s why Germany is one of our fastest growing markets.”

"It's never a good idea to limit people's choices," Uber said. "We believe that innovation and competition is good for everyone -- it profits both drivers and passengers."

The ruling comes after Berlin authorities last month barred Uber from operating in the capital because of safety concerns.

Taxi Deutschland's arguments were in line with those of established cab companies that claim Uber's app-based services, which offer limousines and pickups by private drivers, dodge rules that ordinary taxi firms have to abide by.

Taxi Deutschland said Uber allows drivers to skirt safety and insurance regulations that apply to conventional cabs, and for employers to avoid sector benefit and wage agreements and taxes.

"The state, society and workers all lose," the company said in a statement.

Violators of the injunction risk a fine of 250,000 euros (328,265 dollars) or imprisonment.

Uber is active in more that 200 cities worldwide with headquarters in San Francisco, California, and regional offices in Amsterdam.

The app had already been banned in Germany on a municipal basis, notably in Berlin, where authorities deemed it unsafe.

Passenger transportation should only occur under legislative oversight, said Dieter Schlenker, chairman of Germany’s main taxi cooperative.

“No passenger can check the driver, business and vehicle themselves,” Schlenker said.

Microsoft under Chinese Antitrust Scrutiny

Yesterday, July 28, the Western press, including the Washington Post and South China Morning Post, as well as Chinese online media reported that the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC), one of China’s three antitrust regulators, was investigating Microsoft for possible antitrust violations by visiting Microsoft’s offices at Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu. The probe includes the way the US technology giant distributes its media player and browser.

The State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) announced last month that it was investigating Microsoft over its Windows operating system — which is used on the vast majority of computers in China — and the Office suite of programmes.

However, analysts also noted that while PC OS has not been a principal focus of attention of China’s antitrust regulators, China has potentially eight domestic competitors to Microsoft in the OS sphere, and that there market share has been growing in part through government procurement efforts. While OS is a basic platform for building computer systems and services, these analysts noted Microsoft’s technological depth in this area has brought it many competitive advantages.

Zhang Mao, head and Communist Party chief of the SAIC, told a news conference in Beijing that Microsoft had failed fully to disclose information about its software.

He added the agency, one of the government bodies which enforces China’s anti-monopoly law, was also looking into “issues” with Microsoft’s media player and browser, according to a transcript posted online.

History also offers little guidance, in part because of Microsoft’s extensive involvement in a range of tech sectors. A Hong Kong based company reportedly accused Microsoft of discriminatory and excessive pricing for its software products in 2012 in a case in Guangdong. .” On a positive note, however, Microsoft’s merger with Nokia was also recently approved by China’s antitrust regulators

Microsoft has previously faced anti-trust investigations in other markets for tying the company’s Windows system to its other products.

The European Commission fined it $731 million in March last year for failing to offer users browser choices beyond its own Internet Explorer.

“Through repeated contact with Microsoft, their top-level executives have shown respect for China’s laws, (and) cooperated with China’s anti-monopoly investigation,” Zhang said.

Microsoft has said it seeks to comply with Chinese law. Its comments came after the official announcement of the investigation, which included raids on its offices in the country.

In May China also banned the use of Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system on all new government computers, as reports alleging security concerns circulated.

State media have blasted Microsoft for its share of the operating system market in China, claimed to be as high as 95 percent, saying it forms a “de facto monopoly”.

China — which is embroiled in a long-running cyber spying row with the US — is planning to introduce a homegrown operating system as early as October to reduce the country’s reliance on Microsoft, the official China Daily newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The Microsoft probe comes as foreign firms doing business in the huge Chinese market face apparent greater scrutiny.

U.S. tech companies are in the horizontal and vertical cross hairs. They’re between a rock and a hard place right now. – Duncan Clark, chairman of BDA China, a Beijing investment advisory firm Google services such as Gmail and Maps have been increasingly stifled this year by China’s “Great Firewall” — the country’s censorship and surveillance program — while Facebook and Twitter remain blocked on the mainland. Last month state-run TV aired a report on the iPhone’s tracking feature that suggested the devices could be used to expose state secrets.

China says it’s simply enforcing antitrust rules and looking out for national security. But the regulatory moves — coupled with increasingly heated rhetoric against Silicon Valley giants and strong calls by Chinese leaders for homegrown tech innovation — are raising fears of a tougher business climate and a new burst of protectionism.

“U.S. tech companies are in the horizontal and vertical cross hairs,” said Duncan Clark, chairman of BDA China, a Beijing investment advisory firm specializing in the tech sector. “They’re between a rock and a hard place right now.” It’s not just U.S. tech firms like Microsoft and Qualcomm feeling the pressure in China. These days, foreign companies of all kinds — including Japanese and German carmakers and European drug manufacturers — are being ensnared in anti-monopoly investigations.

A number of experts say that’s the natural result of China ramps up enforcement of its anti-monopoly law, which is just 6 years old.

“China has been way behind the West in terms of antitrust law, but they’re rapidly accumulating more experience in interpreting and enforcing the law,” said Huang Yong, a professor at Beijing’s University of International Business and Economics and member of the State Council’s anti-monopoly committee advisory panel.

But the Chinese government is casting high-tech companies as a particular threat as the two countries trade cyber spying and hacking allegations.

Google wants to open up YouTube, Gmail to kids

Google Inc is considering allowing online accounts for children under the age of 13 and give their parents control over how the service is used, according to media reports.
Google has been working on a version of YouTube, its video-sharing site, for youngsters and is considering other child-friendly accounts such as its Gmail system, the Financial Times reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Internet companies such as Google and Facebook Inc do not offer their services to children under 13, but it is tough to catch users who sign up by providing false information.
A U.S. law called Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, imposes strict controls on the collection and use of information about children under 13. Google’s effort is partly driven by the fact that some parents are already trying to create accounts for their children and the company wants to make the process easier and compliant with the rules, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the effort.
Google’s move was first reported by technology news website The Information.
Google spokesman Peter Barron declined to comment on what he called “rumors and speculation”.

FBI warns of hackers targeting healthcare industry

The FBI has warned that healthcare industry companies are being targeted by hackers, 
publicizing the issue following an attack on U.S. hospital group Community Health Systems Inc that resulted in the theft of millions of patient records.

“The FBI has observed malicious actors targeting healthcare related systems, perhaps for the purpose of obtaining Protected Healthcare Information (PHI) and/or Personally Identifiable Information (PII),” the agency said in a “Flash” alert obtained by Reuters on Wednesday.“These actors have also been seen targeting multiple companies in the healthcare and medical device industry typically targeting valuable intellectual property, such as medical device and equipment development data,” the one page document said.

The FBI and Department of Homeland Security periodically release alerts to provide U.S. businesses with technical details and other information they can use to either prevent or identify cyber attacks. Such reports are typically only issued to businesses and not distributed to the general public.

The FBI has been concerned about healthcare providers for several months. In April, it warned the industry that its systems were lax compared with other sectors, making it vulnerable to hackers looking to access bank accounts or obtain prescriptions.The agency has also reached out to other industries, including a warning to retailers in January alerting them to expect more credit card breaches in the wake of last year’s attack on Target Corp.

The recent alert to healthcare companies did not identify any specific victims targeted by hackers. An agency spokesman declined to comment on the document. Community Health, the No. 2 U.S. publicly traded hospital operator, disclosed the attack on Monday, saying stolen data included patient names, addresses, birth dates and Social Security numbers.

The healthcare company has said little about how its network was attacked.
David Kennedy, an expert in healthcare security, said he has learned the hackers broke into the company’s computer system using a piece of networking equipment that had not been patched to fix the “Heart bleed” Internet bug. The break-in was the first known large-scale cyber attack to exploit that vulnerability. Kennedy, who is chief executive of TrustedSec LLC, said multiple people familiar with the investigation told him hackers exploited the bug in a piece of Juniper Networks Inc equipment to obtain employee credentials and access the company’s network. Once in, they hacked their way into a database containing Social Security numbers and other records.

Juniper spokeswoman Danielle Hamel declined to comment on the breach, but said her company issued patches in April to protect customers against Heart bleed.
Community Health spokeswoman Tomi Galin did not respond to requests for comment on 
Heart bleed.

Opera Mini takes over Nokia browser building

Norwegian software maker Opera has signed a deal to take over the browser building unit of Microsoft’s Nokia mobile phone unit, Opera said on Thursday.
“We have signed a strategic licensing deal with Microsoft. We are basically taking over the browser building department in Nokia,” Opera Chief Executive Lars Boilsesen said. “This means that Opera Mini will become the default browser for Microsoft’s feature phone product lines and the Asha phones product lines.”
“All the current user base will be encouraged to upgrade to Opera Mini and all the new phones will come with Opera Mini pre-installed as a default browser. This is a great deal for us. We have dreamed of this for more than 10 years.”
The deal will be profitable from the start, he added.

UN urges exit screening for Ebola at some airports

GENEVA — Ebola-affected countries should immediately begin exit screening all passengers leaving international airports, sea ports and major ground crossings, the U.N. health agency said on Monday.

The agency didn't spell out which countries should start screening passengers, but noted that the Ebola outbreak involves transmission in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leona and a "small number of people in Nigeria."

All countries, even those unaffected by the outbreak in West Africa, need to strengthen their ability to detect and immediately contain new cases without doing anything that unnecessarily interferes with international travel or trade, the agency said. But countries don't need to impose travel restrictions and active screening of passengers if they do not share borders with Ebola-affected countries, it said.

Authorities in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea say they are already closely inspecting departing passengers for signs of fever or illness.

The risk of the Ebola virus being transmitted during air travel is low because unlike infections such as influenza or tuberculosis, it is not spread by breathing air and airborne particles from an infected person.

Nonetheless, the World Health Organization said anyone with an illness consistent with the virus should not be allowed to travel normally and all passengers should routinely wash their hands and avoid direct contact with body fluids of infected people.

"Transmission requires direct contact with blood, secretions, organs or other body fluids of infected living or dead persons or animals, all unlikely exposures for the average traveler," the agency said in a statement.

The only way to contain the disease, for which there is no licensed treatment, is by isolating the sick and closely watching for signs of infection in those they have come into contact with. A person usually has no symptoms for two to 21 days, but after the incubation period the symptoms include fever, weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat, according to WHO. Then comes vomiting, diarrhea, rash, and in some cases, bleeding.

The Geneva-based agency has been criticized by non-U.N. health organizations as being slow to call for an emergency response to the Ebola crisis.

Some countries have banned direct flights to states hit by the disease. British Airways, Kenya Airways and a number of regional carriers have also canceled flights to the capitals of Sierra Leone and Liberia despite the WHO's recommendation that no travel or trade bans be put in place.

Last month, a Liberian-American man infected with Ebola boarded a flight from Liberia to Nigeria and died days later; 11 people who came into contact with him have been infected.

A task force to monitor the impact of the Ebola virus on travel and transport has been launched by the U.N. health agency along with the International Civil Aviation Organization, the World Tourism Organization, the Airports Council International, the International Air Transport Association and the World Travel and Tourism Council.

Most of the infections in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone have occurred when family members or friends act as caregivers for those who are ill or during burials that don't follow strict infection prevention and control measures, according to WHO officials.

Krista Larson in Dakar, Senegal contributed to this report.

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