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Teenage cancer patients raise £250k to improve servicesTeenage cancer patients raise £250k to improve services
Two teenage cancer patients who staged a ball to improve services for other young people in hospital have raised more than £250,000. Molly Cuddihy, 17, and Sara Millar, 16, met in a teenage common room at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow.
After witnessing a younger boy being asked to leave they vowed to help set up a pre-teen facility in the Schiehallion Unit. They also used the event to thank NHS staff who looked after them
Molly, from Gourock, Inverclyde, said: “I am honestly speechless and overwhelmed at the kindness, support and generosity of our guests as well as the many, many individuals and organizations who were unable to join us but nonetheless have supported our efforts. This will make a difference for all of the kids, now and in the future.”
Sara, from Milngavie, East Dunbartonshire, said: “We were particularly grateful to have had the opportunity to welcome so many of the wonderful NHS Staff who have cared and still care for us. Our Every Thank You Counts ball has afforded us the opportunity to thank and pay tribute to these wonderful people and the incredible work that they do for us, not only in the Schiehallion and Paediatric Intensive Care Units, but across the wider NHS.”
The pair were both undergoing life-saving treatment when they were introduced in a common room supported by the Teenage Cancer Trust.
The facility – furnished with comfy chairs and includes a pool table, TVs, games consoles, dining table and a fridge stocked with treats – offers an escape from a gruelling programme of treatment.
After cheering up a younger patient by setting up the PlayStation they were dismayed when he had to leave because the unit was restricted to teenagers.
A new facility catering for children too old for the playroom but too young for the teenager’s common room has now been given the green light by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
Donors who pledged money to their campaign included X Factor judge Simon Cowell, who met the girls earlier this year.
Paediatric haematologist Prof Brenda Gibson was among the NHS staff who attended the gala event in Glasgow on Saturday.
She said: “I am astounded but very pleased by the amount of money raised at the ball and by the support expressed and given to the Schiehallion Unit on the evening.
“Sara and Molly are astonishing.
“We promise to use this money as wisely as possible to help the children in our unit.”
Joe Biden calls for Trump’s impeachment
Former Vice President Joe Biden called for President Trump’s impeachment today for the first time at a rally in Rochester, New Hampshire.
“With his words, and his actions, President Trump has indicted himself by obstructing justice, refusing to comply with the congressional inquiry. He’s already convicted himself in full view of the world and the American people,” Biden said.
“Donald Trump has violated his oath of office betrayed this nation, and committed impeachable acts. You know, to preserve our Constitution, our democracy. Our basic integrity. He should be impeached,” he added.
Biden went on to say that Trump thinks “he can and will get away with anything he does.”
“He shooting holes in the Constitution. And we cannot let him get away with it,” the former vice president said.
has been at the center of the Ukraine controversy. Trump has repeated an unproven accusation that claims that Biden was improperly trying to help Hunter, who served on the board of a Ukrainian natural gas company, when the then-vice president pressured the Ukrainian government to fire the country’s prosecutor general.
Trump defies Democrats with all-out political warfare on impeachment
Donald Trump drove Democrats to the first crucial pivot point of their impeachment confrontation on Tuesday with a defiant declaration that his administration would not cooperate with the investigation.
Rwandans celebrate launch of first ‘Made in Africa’ smartphones
The Mara X and Mara Z will use Google’s Android operating system and cost 175,750 Rwandan francs ($190) and 120,250 Rwandan francs ($130) respectively.
They will compete with Samsung, whose cheapest smartphone costs 50,000 Rwandan francs ($54), and non-branded phones at 35,000 Rwandan francs ($37). Mara Group CEO Ashish Thakkar said it was targetting customers willing to pay more for quality.
We are actually the first who are doing manufacturing. We are making the motherboards, we are making the sub-boards during the entire process.
Government Announces D50m For TRRC Trust Fund
The government of The Gambia Monday announced the endorsement of D50 million to the Truth Reconciliation and Reparation Commission (TRRC) Victim Fund.
“Today, almost one year into the TRRC public hearing, the government is fulfilling its promise to grant reparation for the victims of human rights violations and abuses within the mandates of the TRRC. On behalf of President Barrow, it is with great pleasure that I announce to you the decision of the government to contribute to the TRRC Victim Trust Fund an initial amount of D50 million dalasis with immediate effect,” Abubacarr B. Tambadou, the attorney general and minister of Justice said.
Mr. Tambadou was speaking on Monday during a press conference in Banjul.
He said: “In order to underscore the importance the government attaches to these objectives, the word ‘reparation’ was included in the title of our truth commission, making it the first of its kind anywhere in the world.”
The D50 million, he said, is paid out from the proceeds of sales of the former president’s assets which were currently sold in accordance with the recommendations of the Janneh Commission.
The Justice minister thanked Gambians based in the country and those in diaspora for their individual and collective act of generosity towards the welfare of the victims.
He called on private business enterprises to become so generous and donate to the TRRC Victim Trust Fund “so that we can together make reparations meaningful for the victims who deserve our individual and collective support to rebuild lives.
“Let us demonstrate to the world our true Gambian characters of benevolence, compassion, selflessness and humanity,” he said, while thanking the victims for their continuous understanding and forbearance.
The government, he added, also reiterated its support and firm commitment and gratitude to the TRRC commissioners and staff for their contribution towards establishing the truth about our dark past and encouraging national reconciliation in the process.
Lamin J. Sise, the chairman of the TRRC said: “We at the TRRC are very grateful about the announcement made by the Justice minister. Fifty million is a splendid contribution by the government to the reparation funds that we established and announced few weeks ago.”
The gesture, he added, will assist the healing, the reconciliation and hopefully, bring justice to the process. “The victims deserve this kind of attention. They are the ones who really suffered enormously in the 22 years of dictatorship. Those victims cannot be forgotten. Therefore, looking at the nature of the people and our country, that is not going to happen.”
Dr. Sise said: “Every Gambian was a victim under the brutal regime that ruled the country for 22 years. Our role is to try to establish record of these atrocities of these gross violations of human rights and abuses for healing and reconciliation.”
The victims, he went on, need this kind of attention and this kind of help. “The gesture is a first step of bringing about healing and bringing about reconciliation and to certain extents of justice. Your contribution will help us move the process of paying reparation or handing reparation the way we are doing it in a very unique of Gambian way.”
Nigeria lecturer suspended after sex for grade video
The University of Lagos has suspended a lecturer who was caught on film propositioning and sexually harassing an undercover BBC reporter.
Boniface Igbeneghu, also a pastor, has been condemned by his church.
He was one of several academics secretly filmed as part of a year-long investigation by BBC Africa Eye.
The film, which has sparked widespread social media comment, explored alleged sexual harassment by members of staff at two top West African universities.
A number of high-profile figures, including celebrities and politicians, have joined in the conversation about the issues it raised.
The report also saw students, some with their identities hidden, making allegations about their own experiences with professors.
Dr Igbeneghu has made no comment.
The University of Ghana has categorically denied protecting any staff or students who have engaged in sexual harassment.
On Tuesday the chairperson of the university’s anti-sexual harassment committee said the two men would be investigated over the documentary, but said the film did not prove they offered grades for sex, local media are quoting her as saying.
US blacklists China organisations over Xinjiang ‘Uighur abuse’
The US has blacklisted 28 Chinese organisations for their alleged involvement in abuses against ethnic Uighurs in China’s Xinjiang province.
The organisations are now on the so-called Entity List, which bars them from buying products from US companies without approval from Washington.
The 28 targets include both government agencies and technology companies specialising in surveillance equipment.
China reacted angrily, dismissing the US allegations as groundless.
“There is no such thing as these so-called ‘human rights issues’ as claimed by the United States,” said foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang. “These accusations are nothing more than an excuse for the United States to deliberately interfere in China’s internal affairs.”
It is not the first time the US has put Chinese groups under a trade ban.
Rwanda deports American pastor
An American preacher who was arrested on Monday in Rwanda for holding an “illegal meeting with journalists” has been deported, New Times of Rwanda newspaper reports.
Rwandan Directorate General for Immigration and Emigration Regis Gatarayiha is quoted by paper as saying evangelist Gregg Schoof was removed from the country for being a “prohibited immigrant” adding that he was “involved in activities that cause public disorder”.
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The preacher had been due to criticise the Rwandan government for shutting down his radio station and his church.
The Amazing Grace radio station was banned last year after it broadcast a sermon that described women as “evil”.
Mr Schoof’ disputes this saying in a statement on Monday that the preacher on his station had used woman as a biblical metaphor for a church, so he said, the sermon was about “a bad church” not women.
His church was closed in February, among hundreds of others, for failing to comply with building regulations “and for noise pollution”.
In May, the preacher lost an appeal against the government’s media regulator to get his station to be reopened leading him to question the extent of freedom of expression in Rwanda.
In his Monday statement he accused the government of trying to send people to hell by closing churches, teaching evolution in school and promoting abortion.
Mr Schoof and his family have been living in Rwanda since 2003.
“I did not come here to fight the government. I came to preach the gospel. I care nothing about politics. Nor do I care who is president or what party is in power,” his statement said.
“But this government has taken a stand against God with its heathen practices. I hope Christians will do their lawful part in all this and simply do what is right and help fix these problems.”
Threats against female politicians in Britain
Early one Sunday morning, British politician Heidi Allen answered her front door to be confronted by a man who had been harassing her.
Brexit: Deal ‘essentially impossible’ after PM-Merkel call – No 10
Boris Johnson is poised to give up on Brexit deal talks with the EU after speaking to the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, with a No 10 source briefing that an agreement looked “essentially impossible not just now but ever”, my colleague Rowena Mason reports.
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