Apple's CEO, Tim Cook: Announces He's proud to be gay'

 Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook on Thursday became the most prominent American corporate leader to come out as gay, saying he was trading his closely guarded privacy for the chance to help move civil rights forward.

The 53-year-old Alabama native and self-described "son of the South", who has spoken out against discrimination of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, declared his sexual orientation in a magazine editorial, confirming a fact widely known in the close-knit Silicon Valley tech community but rarely discussed.

Cook's announcement comes as gay marriage is becoming widespread, but the nation remains divided over gay rights. Same-sex marriage is legal in thirty-two U.S. states and in polls a majority support same-sex marriage, with a clear generational divide between younger Americans who are more likely to support it and older ones who are less likely.

"I'm proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me," Cook said in an article he wrote in Bloomberg Businessweek.

He invoked civil rights luminaries Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King in his long essay.

"I don’t pretend that writing this puts me in their league. All it does is allow me to look at those pictures and know that I’m doing my part, however small, to help others. We pave the sunlit path toward justice together, brick by brick. This is my brick."

The fact the chief executive of the most valuable U.S. publicly traded company felt he could disclose his sexual preference in such a public way, and with the backing of his company's chairman, shows how times have changed.

Former BP (BP.L) Chief Executive Lord Browne, who kept his sexual orientation secret for decades, was forced to come out after a boyfriend made it public in 2007. He later resigned.

"By deciding to speak publicly about his sexuality, Tim Cook has become a role model, and will speed up changes in the corporate world," Browne said in an email to Reuters on Thursday.

Cook, who cuts an easy-going figure at Apple's product launches, is an intensely private person. On Thursday, he wrote that it was this desire to keep his personal life private that had held him back until now.

"If hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it’s worth the trade-off with my own privacy," he wrote.

Even in the United States, it's a tough decision for a public figure to be open about being gay, civil rights advocates say. More than half of LGBT workers in the country are not open about their orientation, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

While never commenting on his sexual orientation, Cook has frequently spoken out against discrimination of the LGBT community, most recently when he journeyed back to his home state, which bans gay marriage, where he was inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor.

At an award ceremony, Cook criticized his state's lack of progress on rights for gay people, as well as minorities. Local news reports of his comments drew hundreds of negative comments, many saying Cook had betrayed his roots.

"What a slap in the face to the Alabama Academy of Honor by such an ungracious recipient," GE123 wrote in comments to a website report by the Alabama Media Group. "Common decency should have prevailed, but instead he uses this occasion to denigrate Alabamians and further an immoral agenda."

EFFECT ON BUSINESS

It remains to be seen whether Cook's disclosure will affect the company's business in conservative markets such as Russia, Iran and parts of Africa. Apple now gets more than half of its revenue from abroad, with China its second largest market.

"As the first CEO of a Fortune 500 company to reveal he is gay, Tim helps make the business world a bit less homophobic," Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of gay rights organization DignityUSA told Reuters in an email.

"I'm sure this will make it easier for some others in similar positions to consider coming out."

People on Twitter and Silicon Valley luminaries alike extended their support. Facebook (FB.O) CEO Mark Zuckerberg called Cook "a courageous leader".

Others were more circumspect. Jonathan Lovitz, a spokesman for StartOut, an advocacy group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender entrepreneurs, told Reuters that several prominent gay and lesbian technology professionals had reached out to him, asking how to react. His advice: celebrate, then get back to work.

Cook is at least the third CEO of a publicly listed U.S. company to announce he is gay, following C1 Financial Inc's (BNK.N) Trevor Burgess and IGI Laboratories Inc's (IG.A) Jason Grenfell-Gardner.

Apple Chairman Art Levinson said Cook's announcement was "courageous."

"On behalf of the board and our entire company, we are incredibly proud to have Tim leading Apple."

Ebola: After 22-Hours Flight, 9 West African Students Barred From Starting Medical School In The Caribbean

Though the World Health Organization applauded Nigeria for being free of Ebola earlier this week, a dangerous stigma continues to follow Nigerians and other West Africans, propelled by international panic that West Africans are carrying or spreading the disease.

Just this week, a group of nine West African students traveling to the Commonwealth of Dominica in the Caribbean were barred from entry to Saint Martin, a stop en route to Dominica. 

The students, who planned to study at the All Saints Medical School in Dominica, were told that they could not enter the island to catch the 30 minute connecting flight that would bring them to Dominica because of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

The students, four female and five male, left Lagos, Nigeria aboard Ethiopian Airlines on Saturday, October 18th, billed to arrive in Dominica on Sunday the 19th. Following a 22-hour flight, the students arrived in St. Martin, yet were refused entry to the island because of concern regarding Ebola. 

This rejection came after the students showed evidence that they tested negative for the virus. None of the nine, who came from both Nigeria and Ghana, were ever even exposed to infected persons.

Rather than finish the journey, the students were sent back to Nigeria, first flown to Panama, then Brazil, then Togo, then Nigeria this past Wednesday. A trip of 22 hours ballooned into a nightmarish five-day ordeal, with the return trip costing students N575,000. During the period, the teenagers slept in airport lobbies unattended, without any amenities. Neither the parents nor the school were notified of the developments.

“They treated them like deportees,” a concerned parent told SaharaReporters. “If teenagers can be treated like this, then what are the odds for other people?”

Attempts to reach health and immigration officials in Saint Martin for answers were met with several different—and conflicting—responses. Some officials said a travel ban on West African countries affected by Ebola was in place, and some said that no such measure existed.

Most interestingly, several officials at the sole airport on the island of St. Martin, Princess Juliana International Airport, said that no ban on travel from Ebola-affected countries was in place. “There is no ban,” a security officer at the airport said. “Not to my knowledge, not yet.”

The security official and others in the airport’s executive office had no knowledge of any kind of official ban, instead referring SaharaReporters to the island’s Office of Immigration and Ministry of Health.

Clear answers were not given by anyone in the government of St. Martin either. Responding staff had no information at all on a possible ban or why students from countries unaffected by Ebola, neither did the country’s website.

An administrative assistant in the St. Martin Ministry of Health, Maria Henry, was the only source that said that such a ban existed. “We have a travel ban,” she said. 

Regardless of whether a ban exists or not, the response of St. Martin aiport and immigration officials to the teenage students seemed like a gross overreaction, seeing as there are no active cases of Ebola in either Nigeria or Ghana.

Even in the destination country, Dominica, government sources say there is no travel ban on travel from Ebola-affected West African countries.

“There is no ban,” an anonymous source from the Ministry of Tourism said.

“I am worried that in a free world such as ours, certain countries, airlines and corporations can take such actions with impunity on law-abiding Nigerian citizens without fear of reprisal or remorse,” a parent told SaharaReporters. “The emotional, physical and financial impact of this event on all involved should not be left to be suffered by these children and their parents alone.”

“Imagine the nightmare and despair of the parents as well as the trauma these children have experienced,” another parent said.

Though the students have since returned home, parents tell SaharaReporters that they are still working with All Saints Medical School to determine how these students can return to start school, and if students can be reimbursed for the return trip. Parents say they expect an answer on Monday, yet continue to request an official explanation from officials in St. Martin. 

“We demand answers and an apology,” parents said.

Culled from Sahara Reporters.

Obama defends U.S. Ebola guidelines, backs American volunteers in Africa

As the second of two nurses infected while treating an Ebola patient left an Atlanta hospital, President Barack Obamaon Tuesday said policies adopted in the United States should not discourage Americans willing to fight West Africa's outbreak.

Obama weighed in for the first time since states including New York and New Jersey imposed automatic 21-day quarantines on doctors and nurses returning from the three countries at the heart of the outbreak - rules that go beyond federal guidelines.

"We don't want to discourage our healthcare workers from going to the front lines and dealing with this in an effective way," Obama told reporters at the White House South Lawn.

Obama said that these medical workers, often volunteers for international humanitarian groups, should be "applauded, thanked and supported."

"And we can make sure that when they come back, they are being monitored in a prudent fashion. But we want to make sure that we understand that they are doing God's work over there. And they're doing that to keep us safe," Obama added.

Some states have imposed their own safeguards, including mandatory quarantines for doctors and nurses returning from the three countries at the center of the epidemic, saying federal policies do not adequately protect the public. Some lawmakers, particularly Republicans, have criticized the response by Obama's administration as inept.

The president is likely to emphasize his support for traveling Ebola medics in a speech set for Wednesday afternoon at a White House event with doctors and nurses who are volunteering in West Africa.

Federal health officials and others have criticized stricter state measures as potentially counterproductive, saying they could deter American doctors and other healthcare professionals from volunteering to help fight the epidemic at its source in West Africa.

"We don't want to do things that aren't based on science and best practices because if we do then we're just putting another barrier on somebody who's already doing really important work on our behalf," Obama said, noting that containing the outbreak in Africa will make Americans safer from Ebola.

The first person quarantined under New Jersey's policy was Kaci Hickox, a nurse who tested negative for the virus but was isolated for days in a tent at a Newark hospital. She said her "basic human rights" were violated.

In another sign of how Ebola fears have affected many communities, a father sued a Connecticut school on Tuesday, saying his 7-year-old daughter was discriminated against and banned from school based on irrational fears of Ebola because she attended a wedding in Nigeria.

"We're hoping this will get her back into school as soon as possible," the girl's mother, Ikeolapo Opayemi, said in a brief interview with Reuters at their home.

DALLAS NURSE RELEASED

In Atlanta, nurse Amber Vinson, 29, was released from Emory University Hospital after being declared virus-free last Friday. Obama said he spoke with Vinson by telephone on Tuesday.

"I'm so grateful to be well," a smiling Vinson told reporters at Emory University Hospital before hugging the doctors and nurses who had treated her since Oct. 15.

"While this is a day for celebration and gratitude, I ask that we not lose focus on the thousands of families who continue to labor under the burden of this disease in West Africa," added Vinson, looking fit.

The infections of the nurses in a Dallas hospital at the beginning of October illustrated the initial lack of preparedness in the U.S. public health system to safely deal with Ebola, which has killed about 5,000 people in three impoverished West African countries - Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone - and raised fears of a wider outbreak.

The other nurse who worked at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, Nina Pham, 26, was declared virus-free on Friday, left the Maryland hospital where she had been treated and met with Obama.

Vinson and Pham treated Liberian Thomas Eric Duncan, who had traveled to Dallas in late September. He was the first patient diagnosed with Ebola in the United States and he died on Oct. 8.

MILITARY WEIGHS QUARANTINE

With concerns mounting over the spread of the virus, the Pentagon said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is considering a recommendation from top military commanders for a "quarantine-like" 21-day monitoring period for all U.S. troops returning from Ebola response efforts in West Africa.

This follows an announcement on Monday by the Army that it has started isolating soldiers returning from the West Africa mission at their home base in Vicenza in northeastern Italy, even though they showed no symptoms of infection and were not believed to have been exposed to the virus. The question then became whether all the branches of the military would do so.

Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said Hagel has not made a final decision on the military-wide quarantine recommendation, which would require a "regimented program of 21 days of controlled, supervised monitoring." That step is far more strict than guidelines recommended by civilian health authorities.

The U.S. military has repeatedly stressed that its personnel are not interacting with Ebola patients and are instead building treatment units to help health authorities battle the epidemic. Up to 4,000 U.S. troops may be deployed on the mission.

Obama said America's military was in a "different situation" than healthcare workers. While civilians may be discouraged from volunteering if they face quarantine on their return, troops were sent as part of their mission and could expect such inconveniences.

Obama also sought to reassure Americans about the threat posed by Ebola. He noted that only two people have contracted Ebola on American soil: Vinson and Pham.

The lone patient now being treated for Ebola in the United States is a New York doctor, Craig Spencer, 33, who was diagnosed on Thursday. He had worked with the humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders, treating Ebola patients in Guinea.

"This disease can be contained," Obama said. "It will be defeated. Progress is possible. But we're going to have to stay vigilant. And we've got to make sure that we're working together."

Nigeria Generates $1.3Billion from Cocoa export in year 2014, Says its Agricultural Minister.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, said on Monday that Nigeria’s export of cocoa is estimated to generate $1.3 billion (about N202.5 billion) as revenue for the country this year.

Adesina who stated this in Abuja at the Nigerian Cocoa Summit 2014, said cocoa generated $1.2 billion in 2013 while the same commodity generated $900million in 2012.

Minister of Agriculture, Akinwumi Adesina
Minister of Agriculture, Akinwumi Adesina
He noted that the production output of cocoa has grown from 250,000 metric tonnes to 370,000 metric tonnes in the last three years of the implementation of Cocoa Value Chain.

He assured that the production of cocoa would be scaled up to 600,000 metric tonnes by 2016.

As part of new initiatives to boost the production of cocoa in the country, he said the Nigerian Cocoa Research Institute had released eight new hybrids of cocoa, adding that the Federal Government has distributed 1.4 million cocoa pods to farmers in cocoa producing states across the country.

Given the enormous potentials of cocoa sub-sector, the Minister has also proposed the setting aside of N100 billion as Cocoa Development Fund, aimed at making Nigeria a global powerhouse in cocoa production.

He explained that the Cocoa Development Fund would be raised through public-private partnership, adding that it would bring about massive turn-around of the sector.

Adesina further disclosed that Cocoa Corporation of Nigeria would soon be established to regulate the activities of the cocoa sub-sector as well as shore up global competitiveness of Nigerian cocoa.

He pointed out that currently, the activities in the cocoa sub-sector are uncoordinated as Nigerian cocoa loses value in the global market because it is not branded.

The Corporation, Adesina explained would be driven by the private sector, as the government is expected to provide enabling environment.

According to him, “The absence of marketing institutions around cocoa sector has led to uncertainties in the Nigerian cocoa market which for decades has crippled the system.

“We are going to fix this problem once and for all. To fill the institutional void that the dissolution of Cocoa Marketing Board created and to allow us to compete with our neighbouring countries, the government supported institution called: ‘Cocoa Corporation of Nigeria’ will be established.

“This Corporation will not be run by government. It is going to be private-sector driven. But it is going to be public sector- enabled”.

Australia authorizes special forces troops to go to Iraq

Australian special forces troops will be deployed inIraq to assist in the fight against Islamic State militants, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Friday, and its aircraft will also join U.S.-led coalition strikes.

Abbott said in a nationally televised news conference the Australian troops would be engaged in an "advise and assist" capacity to support the Iraqi army in their battle against the militant Islamist group.

The United States has been bombing Islamic State and other groups in Syria for almost two weeks with the help of Arab allies, and hitting targets in neighboring Iraq since August.

European countries have joined the campaign in Iraq but not inSyria.

Last month, Abbott sent aircraft and 600 personnel to the United Arab Emirates in preparation for joining the coalition. He has since said it was likely Australian aircraft would join the strikes to combat Islamic State, which he described as a "murderous death cult".

While the involvement of Australian aircraft had been flagged, the use of Australian troops on the ground in Iraq was not as widely anticipated.

"Today, cabinet has authorized Australian air strikes in Iraq at the request of the Iraqi Government and in support of the Iraqi government," Abbott said.

"Also, subject to final legal documentation, cabinet has authorized the deployment of Australian special forces into Iraq to advise and assist Iraqi forces."

So far Australian aircraft have been limited to humanitarian aid and delivering arms to Iraqi government-backed forces.

Australia is on high alert for attacks by radicalized Muslims or by home-grown militants returning from fighting in the Middle East, having raised its threat level to high and undertaken a series of high-profile raids in major cities.

Officials believe up to 160 Australians have been either involved in fighting in the Middle East or actively supporting groups fighting there. At least 20 are believed to have returned to Australia and have been said to pose a security risk.

One man was charged on Tuesday with funding a terrorist organization, while another was arrested last month after police said they had thwarted a plot to behead a randomly selected member of the public.

Prominent Australian Muslims say their community is being unfairly targeted by law enforcement and threatened by right-wing groups, and there are concerns that policies aimed at combating radical Islamists could create a backlash.

Abbott said Islamic State poses a grave threat to both Australia and the wider world and that Canberra could not afford to shirk its responsibility to contribute militarily to "degrading" the group's capabilities.

"The Americans certainly have quite a substantial special forces component on the ground already," he said.

"My understanding is that there are U.K. and Canadian special forces already inside Iraq, so we'll be operating on a much smaller scale but in an entirely comparable way to the United States special forces."

The Australian contingent in the UAE is made up of eight Super Hornet fighter jets, an early warning and control aircraft, an aerial refueling aircraft, along with 400 air force personnel and 200 special force soldiers.

Google to launch own mobile chat app

Software giant Google Inc plans to launch a mobile messaging app it is likely to test in India and other emerging markets, the Economic Times newspaper reported on Friday, citing sources.

The daily said Google was in the early stages of development of the app, which will not make it mandatory to use a Google login.

If launched, the mobile app will compete in the mobile chat space with the likes of WhatsApp, Line and Hike.

The Mountain View, California-based company is also looking at localization, by adding Indian language support and voice-to-text messaging, the newspaper said.(bit.ly/1mXn7Kj)

A Google spokeswoman said the company did not comment on speculation.

US Sends Medical Experts To Study How Nigeria Tamed Ebola

The US reported on Tuesday that it has discovered a case of EVD in Dallas, Texas, but its health officials said “the crisis is under control and the public has nothing to fear.”
A statement released by US CDC Director Tom Frieden said “it’s clear the nation needs a quick and thorough response to its first Ebola patient”
He said although Nigeria was not completely out of the woods, “their extensive response to a single case of Ebola shows that control is possible with rapid, focused interventions.” Apart from Nigeria, the US will also visit Senegal to study its model.
Frieden said “the best practices in Nigeria and Senegal suggest the U.S. should monitor all individuals who may have been exposed to Ebola and establish a dedicated management and response system.”
Senegal has had no new reported cases of Ebola since Sept. 18 while Nigeria has not reported new ones since August 31,
US health officials are expected in Nigeria which it claimed had the best practices in combating Ebola Virus disease which entered into Nigeria through Liberian born American citizen Mr. Patrick Sawyer whose index case was reported on July 20, 2014. Nigeria is expected to officially announce today that the remaining two potential Ebola patients will exit the 21-day observation period.
How Nigeria stopped the spread of Ebola
According to US CDC, “Nigeria’s first reported case of Ebola surfaced July 20, when Patrick Sawyer landed in Lagos from Liberia and exposed 72 other passengers to the virus. Nigeria’s Health officials quickly issued notifications and tracked everybody who may have been in contact with Sawyer.
“Nigeria also established an Ebola Incident Management Center to handle the potential outbreak and developed a staffing plan that executed a social mobilization strategy that reached more than 26,000 households of people living around the contacts of Ebola patients,”
The deadly virus has killed more than 3,000 people in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia in the largest outbreak ever recorded.
How Senegal contained Ebola
Senegal confirmed its first Ebola case Aug. 29 after a man, travelling from Guinea on Aug. 14, took ill and showed symptoms of the disease. This prompted a quick response, including an experienced and trained staff that was prepared to contain the Ebola outbreak. The procedure led to the identification of 67 contacts who were placed under quarantine, monitored for 21 days and showed no symptoms of Ebola.
Panic in America
The man who imported Ebola into US was found to have travelled to Liberia without informing the authorities and did not disclose the nature of his ailment to the nurse that attended to him. Reports from Texas yesterday said that the Nurse who attended to the man has also taken ill for Ebola in Texas.
A spokesman for Texas Health Presbyterian said the patient had walked into a Dallas emergency room on September 26, without knowing that he contacted the deadly virus and left after he was treated. He then returned to the facility on September 28 where it was determined he likely had Ebola and was isolated. He tested positive Tuesday, health officials said.
Following the lapse on the part of the hospital officials, questions are being asked amid panic across the country. The CDC has thus advised that all medical facilities should ask for patients with symptoms consistent with Ebola for their travel history.
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/10/us-sends-medical-experts-study-nigeria-tamed-ebola/#sthash.WoMBWfat.of2mY4iC.dpuf