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Doctors brace for backlog as elective surgeries postponed amid coronavirus crisis
By Steve McKinleyHalifax Bureau
Laura ArmstrongStaff Reporter
Thu., April 2, 2020timer7 min. read
A future backlog looms for Ontario's health-care system as the province cuts down on surgeries and treatment for patients requiring care unrelated to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Ontario government announced last month that all non-essential care and elective surgeries must be put on hold to protect health-care providers, patients and the public and to manage what's expected to be a "tremendous" demand on the system from the spread of COVID-19.
Patients with serious but not emergent medical issues — meaning patients who do not face imminent harm if not treated within the next 14 days — are encountering obstacles as they try to access normal care, like cancer surgeries or essential rehabilitation for stroke, cardiac and vascular patients, who could be facing permanent disability without it.
Experts warn it could lead to a future backlog for a health-care system that is preparing for tougher days ahead.
Ontario's health-care system is treating patients facing imminent harm normally, according to Dr. Madhu Natarajan, a structural and interventional cardiologist at Hamilton Health Services and the regional physician lead of the Hamilton-Niagara Integrated Heart Investigation Unit.
Urgent patients, meaning people who are hospitalized but are not in immediate danger, are being triaged daily in order to properly prioritize patients and minimize lengths of stay. Postponing elective surgeries for cardiac patients in urgent care should be safe for most people because wait times were short in Ontario before the coronavirus outbreak. Four to six extra weeks of waiting may cause some patients anxiety but should not compromise their well-being.
But there is another tier of patients, those who are currently at home waiting for a procedure or treatment, that Natarajan worries about. Part of the contingency planning involves doing as many regular procedures as possible during the ongoing pandemic to maintain a patient flow. If that gets bogged down because of coronavirus measures, the wait for procedures and treatments could grow.
"This is going to be a big problem for (patients at home). Are they going to face long waiting lists? I think part of it is a little bit unknown ... the extent of the surge is difficult to predict, and how much outpatient care we can continue."
In some cases, people needing medical care are not going into the hospital at all, which also threatens to put further pressure on the health-care system in the future.
Experts in stroke care are seeing fewer people present to emergency departments with milder, non-disabling stroke symptoms, or transient ischemic attacks (TIA), according to Dr. Leanne Casaubon, a stroke neurologist and director of the TIA and Minor Stroke Unit at Toronto Western Hospital. The number of doctors' referrals to stroke prevention services is also on the decline — anecdotally, she said, because the data hasn't totally been analyzed yet.
Life- and limb-saving acute care and stroke prevention services are intact as the country's health-care system battles COVID-19, but patients with milder symptoms who may not be calling 911 or visiting the emergency department — either for fear of contracting coronavirus or adding unnecessary pressure to the health-care system — could fill hospitals' beds in future if their symptoms worsen.
"Our concern is that an unintended consequence of this will be a potential increase in stroke into the near future, that we certainly want to help to avoid as best we can," said Casaubon.
Planning for the inevitable backlog surge in elective surgeries is very much like trying to hit a moving target. While some of the logistical elements will be known — number of cases and their prioritization, for example — other elements, such as the length of the coronavirus crisis, and the resources available at the end of it, are completely up in the air.
Dr. David Urbach is the Surgeon-in-Chief at Women's College Hospital in Toronto, and a Professor of Surgery and Health Policy at the University of Toronto. Simply put, he defines elective surgeries as those which are scheduled in advance. By that nature, they are not immediately life-threatening, in contrast to emergency surgeries.
The numbers are not trivial: in 2017, there were 183,647 elective surgeries in Ontario; in 2018, the last year for which Ontario was able to provide totals, that figure was 184,125.
Within that elective surgery category are subcategories, which vary according to discipline. For example, Cancer Care Ontario subdivides surgeries into four priorities, ranging from priority one — surgery necessary within 24 hours — to priority four — surgery required within 84 days.
Across the board there are systems that prioritize the urgency of patients' care, based in part on type of operation, patient status and hospital resources, said Urbach. These form the basis for decisions about which surgeries get postponed.
"The directive is to curtail elective surgery as much as possible," he said. "We know from modelling that the hospitals in Ontario are likely to be stressed, possibly overwhelmed in the next one to two weeks with very sick patients. And in order to make sure as many people can be saved as possible, they want to make sure that as many hospital resources are free for those people.
"All of this is a tradeoff. Nothing is certain, and people are trying to essentially make decisions that will create as much net benefit as possible and minimize harm and save as many lives as possible."
Whatever decisions are made, what is certain is that at such time that the coronavirus lifts and eases the immediate pressure on the health-care system, there will be a backlog of elective surgeries to perform, and more difficult decisions will have to be made.
"There's going to have to be a catch-up period where we're either going to have to increase our ability to do elective surgery at a later date once this crisis lifts, or there will be just a period of time where there's a lot longer waits to have surgery," said Urbach.
Post-coronavirus crisis, some of the solutions for the backlog could be found in unusual allocations of resources, he said. Certain hospitals could be designated as only for use by non-COVID-19 patients. Or hospitals that do treat COVID patients might segregate certain areas for use by non-COVID patients.
Depending on the trajectory of the pandemic in Canada, there might even be a scenario when hospitals, no longer as taxed as they were at its height, might go back to a regular schedule of elective surgeries in several weeks time.
Dr. Chris Simpson, a cardiologist and Vice-Dean, Clinical at Queen's University School of Medicine, said the coming backlog will create complicated demands on the health-care system.
Simpson was the former chair of the now-disbanded Wait Time Alliance; a federation of medical specialty societies and the Canadian Medical Association that created benchmarks for wait times for all procedures and reported on provinces' abilities to match those wait times.
He says the impact of the postponement of these elective surgeries is still an unknown. In the short term, everyone agrees it's necessary. Hospital resources must be preserved; personal protective equipment must be conserved. But the long-term outlook is still fuzzy.
"If we're slowing down for three or four months, two things start to happen," he said. "The first being, clearly we've got a very sizable backlog of procedures and care that's going to have to be provided after this is all over, which is no small task.
"But the second thing is that a lot of things that are quote unquote elective today and can be safely put off — by three or four months from now, they're no longer elective — they've become more urgent because they've waited longer than they should have."
That's going to create strains on health care. First, he said, we'll be dealing with a health-care workforce that is tired and burned out from dealing with the coronavirus crisis. Asking them to work overtime to help clear the backlog of elective surgeries is asking a lot.
There are also physical limitations in that there are a fixed number of operating rooms, procedure rooms and clinic rooms in which to perform these surgeries. The capacity of those rooms could be increased by using them after hours and on weekends, but again, that creates a lot of strain on an already tired health-care workforce.
There is also the question of money.
"A lot of funding, of course, is quite appropriately being redirected to scaling up for the COVID crisis," said Simpson "What's that going to mean for health-care budgets if they have to spend several months going at hyperspeed doing procedures that cost money? And to what extent will that be a constraint?"
During the SARS epidemic in 2003, Toronto hospitals suspended elective surgeries for a number of weeks, creating a similar shutdown to the current one. Once the crisis passed, it took months — even with hospitals ramping up procedures as much as they could — to get back to a pre-SARS level of elective surgery.
Simpson believes scaling up from the SARS experience that it could be "months to years" before wait times for elective surgeries return to their pre-coronavirus levels.
While provinces and hospitals are creating plans for dealing with the anticipated backlog, those plans are necessarily incomplete — the information needed to flesh them out is just not available. For health-care administrators, said Simpson, the keys will be flexibility and adaptability.
"I think it's going to require a very thoughtful approach," he said. There will have to be a very concerted effort to devote resources to the patients who need them most.
"That's going to require a judgment call. And those judgments won't be easy. But I think everybody would buy into the notion we'll probably have to have a hierarchy of priorities and saving lives will be number one."
Steve McKinley is a Halifax-based reporter for the Star. Reach him via email: stevemckinley@thestar.ca
Laura Armstrong is a staff reporter based in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @lauraarmy


About the Author: Esmeralda Santiago, the author of When I Was Puerto Rican, has lived a very exciting life, a part of which you will read about in this year's common reading. Use this part of the Common Reading Web Site to read a short biographical essay about Santiago, filling in the details of her life after When I Was Puerto Rican.
Study: This section of the Common Reading Web Site contains information specifically devoted to students who are reading and studying Esmeralda Santiago for the first time. You will find reading exercises, study questions and resources to help you with your reading and to enrich your studies.
Teaching: This section of the Common Reading Web Site contains teaching ideas for faculty across the curriculum. Here you will find suggestions for thematic approaches to Santiago's work, paper assignments and a variety of resources for use when teaching Santiago. A complete Instructor's Guide (available in hard copy only) for When I Was Puerto Rican is also available in M-400 in Dean Arcario's office.
Resource: The Resource section offers common resources useful to both students and faculty in reading and researching When I Was Puerto Rican.


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Joe Torry Talks Dating JLo, Time Travel, & Today's "Internet Comedians"
Written by Jennifer Hall
St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway!
TV One Introduces Unsung Live: At Home Featuring Kenny Lattimore
Richmond Holds Virtual Happy Hour To Help Food Industry Affected By Coronavirus Outbreak
Forget the gray skies! Comedian Joe Torry is in town to brighten up your weekend! Join Torry as he lays down the laughs at the Funny Bone.
The talented comedian stopped by the KISS studio to talk about the weekend's festivities and more.
Born in Newport News, VA, Torry has found success on the both the stage and screen. He has lent his talents to numerous films and television shows including Strictly Business, Poetic Justice, and Girlfriends.
Source: Radio One Richmond
A jack-of-all-trades, Torry is a man on a mission. Producing a reality TV show and a new sitcom, are only a few of the projects in the works. Other up-and-coming Torry ventures include the film The Workout Room which features the late Ricky Harris in one of his final on-screen appearances.
For the Latest Entertainment News: Follow @'kissrichmond'
When asked, "How social media has changed comedy?" The industry vet stated that comics are not made the way that they used to be – describing them as "internet comedians."
Torry even joined Kels for a hilarious game of "Would You Rather?"
"Rihanna or JLo?"
"Stop time or time travel?"
See the answers to those questions and much more in the video above!
With years of stand-up success under his belt, Torry is hot enough to add fire to the coldest winter wonderland! See him at the Funny Bone all weekend.
comedian comedy Guy Torry Interview JLo Joe Torry kels richmond The Funny Bone va

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Divya Narendra
CEO & Co-Founder of SumZero
Divya Narendra co-founded SumZero, the largest online community for professional investors, including hedge fund, mutual fund, and private equity analysts. He also famously co-created Harvard Connection, a social networking website that in 2004 filed a lawsuit against Facebook alleging that creator Mark Zuckerberg had copied their idea.
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Before founding SumZero, Narendra was an Associate at Sowood Capital Management, a $3.5B multi-strat hedge fund, where he analyzed investment opportunities across the capital structure.
He was also an analyst in the M&A Group at Credit Suisse in NYC.
With more than 16,000 pre-screened professionals collaborating on a fully transparent platform, SumZero provides direct access to thousands of proprietary investment reports every year and fosters on-going communication within the network.
In addition to accessing highly-differentiated investment research, the platform further enables members to build a track record, expand their networks in highly-relevant places, and identify further professional opportunities within the industry.
Learn from the best finance minds in the world
Martin Armstrong's work has become world renown. His model for technical analysis has successfully pinpointed major events and has provided one of the most consistent guides for understanding the turning points in the global economy and the business cycle.
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Michael Novogratz is the Founder, CEO and Chairman of Galaxy Digital. He was formerly a Partner and President of Fortress Investment Group LLC. Prior to Fortress, Mr. Novogratz spent 11 years at Goldman Sachs, where he was elected Partner in 1998.
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Cathie Wood's ARK Investment Management managed the largest actively-managed exchange-traded fund in 2020. As a thematic investor, she focuses on technologically enabled disruption that cuts across economic sectors. She was named the best stock picker of 2020 by Bloomberg News.
Jeff Greene became a billionaire by buying credit default swaps on subprime mortgage-backed bonds as the housing market crashed, which has been described as the most successful trade in history by an individual on Wall Street. His fortune is now in equities, real estate, and other investments.
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Led Zeppelin Stairway To Heaven Wallpaper
After changing their name from the New Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin signed a deal with Atlantic Records that afforded them considerable artistic freedom. Although the group were initially unpopular with critics, they achieved significant commercial success with eight studio albums released over ten years, from Led Zeppelin (1969) to In Through the Out Door (1979). Their untitled fourth studio album, commonly known as Led Zeppelin IV (1971) and featuring the song "Stairway to Heaven", is among the most popular and influential works in rock music, and it helped to secure the group's popularity.
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text:
Artificial intelligence helped musicians record new album
In the USA there is a musical group YACHT. It is possible that you have not even heard of her, although they have been playing since 2002 and have already recorded many compositions. In general, this team of musicians has always approached their work quite creatively. For example, once they sold an album without a cover. But she could still be received ... by fax at the nearest post office. However, for such a YACHT would hardly have hit the pages of our publication. But the band's recently released album, called Chain Tripping, is compelling. After all, the co-author of the musicians here was artificial intelligence.
Now AI has learned to be a songwriter
Why do AI write songs?
YACHT group has been interested for a long timequestions of how high technology can help musicians improve their work. Vocalist Claire Evans even performed at the Google I / O exhibition with a report on this topic. It took three years to create and record the new Chain Tripping YACHT album.
I know this is pretty hard to explain, butthe use of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies allowed us to find a new approach to songwriting. We were able to add "additional layers" of music to those places where we ourselves would not have guessed to place them. Claire Evans said.
In fairness it's worth noting thatartificial intelligence and neural networks were already used to generate music and even text, but all this did not go beyond research projects designed to demonstrate the capabilities of AI. The YACHT group decided to do a little differently. The team decided not to use AI as a co-author in order to cause a stir and say: "Look, the car wrote this song for us!". And for what, according to the recognition of the musicians, their goal was to create music that they themselves would never have made, but which at the same time would have sounded in their style. What is your favorite band? Tell us about her in our telegram chat.
YACHT lead singer Claire Evans. it occurred to her to record an album featuring AI
How to teach a car to write songs?
At the very beginning, the musicians triedestablish contact with the authors of almost all existing solutions based on AI. But none of the projects satisfied the musicians for a number of reasons. Therefore, they decided to take all the known developments and create something based on this. To train neural networks, as you know, you first need to "feed" them information on the basis of which they will work in the future. It was decided to use the team's discography, which had to be completely rewritten in MIDI format to simplify the work. There were only 82 songs in the discography of the group at that time. And this, unfortunately, is not enough to fully teach the neural network to create something new on the basis of the existing one.
This is interesting: How does artificial intelligence work.
However, this amount turned out to be quiteenough for AI to "learn to play musical instruments." Moreover, he mastered several versions of instruments and "gave out" melodies made in the style of a musical group. Thus, according to the recognition of the musicians, they did not have a "magic button", when clicked, they would receive a finished song. Artificial intelligence only strengthened their melodies and rhythms with an additional sound. Well, you can evaluate the result of work by listening to one of the tracks from the new album (and at the same time evaluating a music video made in a very peculiar style, like the music itself) in the video available below.
</ p>
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Instead of a monster in Lake Loch Ness, a giant eel could inhabit


Pool elevation is 1342.31 feet on Monday 22Apr19 Time: 1500 hours.
At this elevation the total amount of water stored in Ft. Cobb Lake is 72875 acre-feet.
Reservoir release is 377 cubic feet per second on Monday 22Apr19 Time: 1500 hours.
Flood control pool is 1.84% full.
Flood control pool storage filled is 1179 acre-feet which is equivalent to 0.08 inches of runoff over the entire drainage basin.
Flood control pool storage empty is 63037 acre-feet which is equivalent to 4.15 inches of runoff over the entire drainage basin.
Top of Dam Elevation: 1380.00 feet.
Longitude: -98° 27' 42" Latitude: 35° 9' 54"


text:
Q: Django query create __mycondition same __startswish I have 2 shorts questions related with query in Django:

*

*What's the name of that ('__startswith' '__lt' ...)

*How I can create '__mycondition' for query

data.exclude(name__startswith="example")

if you have examples I would like
Thanks you :)

A: You can use __gt and __lt to work with date. Try:
from django.utils import timezone

queryset = data.exclude(start_at__lt=timezone.now(), end_at__gt=timezone.now())

Refs

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Spring is officially in the air and after a long (and snowy!) winter, it's time to get outside and savor the season! Lucky for you, Seattle has an abundance of green spaces full of beautiful blooming plants to bask in. To kick-start your springtime celebration, book your Inn at the Market stay with our new Sunday Funday Package: check in on a Sunday to enjoy 10% off your accommodations and free valet parking upon arrival. Once your accommodations are taken care of, take a look at a few of our favorite places to find Seattle's best blooms this spring.
A few steps from our downtown Seattle hotel, peruse Pike Place Market's iconic flower stands and take your pick from the perfectly colorful bouquets of fresh-cut tulips. The locally sourced tulips are available throughout the spring season at just $5-20 per bundle.
If you really want to be wowed, head to the University of Washington's campus for a spectacular display of Japanese cherry blossoms in the Quad. The tiny blooms on each of the 29 cherry trees make up an explosion of pink and a quintessentially Seattle view.
Volunteer Park, a 50-acre refuge in Capitol Hill, is overflowing with plants both indoors and outdoors, so you can visit this springtime destination rain or shine (which is important when in Seattle). Stroll the flower-filled grounds or head into the Volunteer Park Conservatory to meander through ferns, cacti, and palms.
If you're up for a little bit of a road trip, make your way up to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival to see the famously magnificent tulip and daffodil fields. We love visiting RoozenGaarde, a brilliant five-acre display garden showcasing 250,000 bulbs and an authentic Dutch windmill.
The gorgeous Washington Park Arboretum, situated on the shores of Lake Washington, comes to life with color every spring thanks to its assortment of rhododendrons, azaleas, and more. Explore Washington Park Arboretum's 230 acres of foot trails, lawns, and ponds, and don't forget to stop by the Seattle Japanese Garden while you're here.


Lothantique - La Bonne Maison Room Spray 100ml - is currently on backorder. You may still purchase now though and we'll ship as soon as more become available.
Create an immediate fresh air experience with Lothantique's La Bonne Maison Room Sprays, in highly concentrated, and uniquely blended fragrances.


The two-tailed p-value indicates the statistical significance associated with testing whether the slope of the dose-response curve is different from zero. All values are given to one significant figure. When there is no dose-related effect or the slope is negative, then "P=1." appears. The lowest p-value reported is p<0.0005.
Lower and upper 99% confidence limits are shown for each TD50. When the abbreviation "n.s.s." appears for either the lower or upper confidence limit, it denotes not statistically significant. Whenever the statistical significance of TD50 is p>0.01, then the upper 99% confidence limit will not be calculated. When the lower confidence limit is "n.s.s." this usually indicates that there were no tumors or only one tumor of the specified type in the experiment, and the lower confidence limit was not estimable. Occasionally the n.s.s. occurs for the lower confidence limit because 100% of dosed animals had the tumor(s) of interest and hence no lower confidence limit could be estimated with summary data.


Association of Golf en France is a non-profit social organization that strives to increase member benefits and provide member services to boost bidirectional interactions and activities. The association is committed to international exchanges in the field of golf.
1. Organization of golf torunaments and lectures on regular basis.
2. Promotion of exchanges to disseminate knowledge about golf.
3. Establishment of contacts with other international golf organizations and provision of the latest information on the golf industry.
4. Talent training services related to the golf industry.
The association is comprised of the founders, honorary members, domors, and registered members.
Members must agree to comply with and abide by the articles of association. The board of directors of the association shall be entitled to deny membership applications if justified reasons exist.
Members may cancel their membership status for the following reasons: death, resignation, or cancellation. In case of serious circumstances, the board of directors shall be authorized to revoke a membership status.
The board of directors shall be comprised and managed by five directors. Directors shall be elected by the General Assembly for a term of 3 years and may serve consecutive terms. The board of directors shall be reshuffled every three years. For the first reshuffle resigning members shall be determined by lucky draw. During vacation periods, the board shall appoint interim acting directors who shall serve until the next General Assembly.
Board meetings shall be convened by the chairman or a minimum of four directors at least once a year. Board resolutions shall be based on the will of the majority of the members. If no majority can be reached, the will of the board chairman shall prevail. Unexcused absence from three board meetings on the part of board members shall be viewed as a resignation from board duties.
The Regular Assembly shall be comprised of all association members.
The Regular Assembly shall be convened once a year by the chairman.
The Regular Assembly shall have the right to approve or reject proposals submitted by the board of directors and conduct reviews of annual financial accounts.
The Regular Assembly shall make decisions on all issues on the agenda in the prescribed sequence. Decisions shall be based on the will of the majority of the members in attendance.
The chairman may convene special meetings if special requirements exist or by proposal of one or more registered members.Special meetings shall be confined to reviews of proposals submitted on the same day. Special meetings may also be convened for the purpose of amendment of the articles of association by proposal of the board.
Internal statutes shall be established by the board of directors for the purpose of an elaboration of items (organizational principles and work contents in particular) not specified in these articles of association. Upon approval by the General Assembly, internal statutes shall be applicable to all association members.
Proposals to dissolve the association shall be submitted during special meetings by one or more liquidators. In accordance with the regulations set forth in Article 9 of the law promulgated on July 1, 1901, remaining assets shall be transferred to association with similar goals.
Copyright © 2017-2022 AGF All Rights Reserved.


Where would you like to operate your Yumilicious store?
Is this where you currently reside?
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Have you or any of your partners operated multiple retail or food establishments?
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text:
Clockshop
Our "South of Fletcher" Podcast Wraps / November 16, 2018 by Bear Guerra
South of Fletcher podcast has officially wrapped! But you can still get all caught up here.
Once one of Southern California's most important rail yards, this site will soon become the next urban California State Park, joining a patchwork of other river-adjacent green spaces that are shaping the course of LA River revitalization. Through personal interviews with people who have worked, lived and otherwise made their marks at this post-industrial site, Fonografia Collective explores some of LA's biggest challenges, and speculates about what change at this site might mean for the rest of the city. Written and co-produced by Ruxandra Guidi and Clockshop, edited by Ibby Caputo and with music by Luis Guerra.
podcast, Clockshop, storytelling, collaboration, Los Angeles November 26, 2018
South of Fletcher Podcast Is Out / September 14, 2018 by Bear Guerra
South of Fletcher: Stories from the Bowtie explores the past, present and potential of the Bowtie Parcel. Once one of Southern California's most important rail yards, this site will soon become the next urban California State Park, joining a patchwork of other river-adjacent green spaces that are shaping the course of LA River revitalization. Through personal interviews with people who have worked, lived and otherwise made their marks at this post-industrial site, Fonografia Collective explores some of LA's biggest challenges, and speculates about what change at this site might mean for the rest of the city. Written and co-produced by Ruxandra Guidi, edited by Ibby Caputo, music by Luis Guerra.
Subscribe to Clockshop's iTunes channel to automatically receive new episodes when they become available, or listen here.
south of fletcher, Clockshop, Fonografia Collective, ruxandra guidi, Bear Guerra, podcast, collaboration, los angeles, Taylor Yard, Bowtie, podcasting September 14, 2018
South of Fletcher Launches / September 10, 2018 by Bear Guerra
Say hello to our new limited-run podcast, "South of Fletcher: Stories from the Bowtie"!
It's the story of a seemingly nondescript piece of land in northeast LA -- a former rail yard that is set to become a park. But it's also a meditation on whose voices are heard in discussions about the future of a city, whose histories become part of our collective memory, and the traces we leave behind when landscapes are altered and neighborhoods change. Done in conjunction with (and with thanks to) LA-based arts organization, Clockshop.
Our accompanying photo and video exhibit will be up at Occidental College's Weingart Gallery until November 4. You're all invited for the opening this Thursday, September 13th, 5-8 pm.
Ruxandra Guidi, Bear Guerra, Photography, exhibit, photo exhibit, Bowtie, california state parks, California, occidental college, Clockshop, collaboration, environment, California Humanities September 10, 2018


Word around school has been spreading about a new club on campus that welcomes students who have recently arrived from other countries and who are learning to speak English with open arms. This new club is a place where anyone can just be themselves without worrying about harsh judgment by the public nor be afraid to socialize with anyone. This club was born from the notion that new, international students spend much of their school day isolated from the general population because they are in bilingual classes, or they may even self-isolate because they are shy or embarrassed about the language barrier. However, we believe that students will learn English more quickly and integrate into our school community faster if they are invited to do so by the students who are already here and involved in the school culture. It's a little bit like Link Crew, but this club is targeted towards English Learners and is ongoing throughout the year. This new club is known as the Cultural Connection Committee, and its advisor is Mrs. Ojeda.
The club – Cultural Connection Committee, also known as 3C – has been established on the idea of spreading awareness of the egregious effects of language barriers. It is founded on the desire for new students from other countries being able to be comfortable around the school while spreading school spirit and participating in school activities. Sadly, these students do not always have the ability to let their voices be heard due to the language barriers that prevent them from easily sharing their thoughts with the public. Many students on campus are able to communicate well with other students; however, what about the students who are unable to converse with their fellow students due to English not being their primary language?
If you want to be a part of helping SUHi's newest students become part of our Red Devil family, you are welcome to join us on Fridays at lunch in Room 306. 3C does not require bilingual or multilingual speakers or anyone with spectacular skills in order to be a part of the club – no matter who you are, this club needs YOU!


text:
Q: error with math mode Given a curve $\mathcal{L}$, define two functions of distance transform $\kappa_{+}$ and $\kappa_{-}$ on \mathbb{R}^{2} as
$\kappa_{+}(x) = d(x,\mathbb{R}^{2}\D), x \in \mathbb{R}^{2},                     (1)$
$\kappa_{-}(x) = d(x,\mathbb{R}^{2}\D), x \in \mathbb{R}^{2},                     (2)$

I get following error:
Undefined sequence

A: You need to be careful to use mathmode correctly; in particular, \mathbb needs to be in mathmode.
You didn't specify what the macro \D does, but it looks as if would you like to use the align environment, as follows
\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\newcommand{\D}{D}

\begin{document}
 Given a curve $\mathcal{L}$, define two functions of distance transform $\kappa_{+}$
 and $\kappa_{-}$ on $\mathbb{R}^{2}$ as
 \begin{align}
 \kappa_{+}(x) & = d(x,\mathbb{R}^{2}\D), x \in \mathbb{R}^{2} \\
 \kappa_{-}(x) & = d(x,\mathbb{R}^{2}\D), x \in \mathbb{R}^{2}
 \end{align}
\end{document}

A: Please always post complete documents so that your problem may be reproduced. However \mathcal is a standard LaTeX command but \mathbb requires a package (such as amssymb)


text:
Independence of the Judiciary and Security of Investments-Opportunities & Challenges
By Chief Charles A. Taku*
Chief Charles Taku
Africa is endowed with abundant largely unexploited natural resources and raw materials yet the continent is afflicted by poverty, diseases and violent conflicts in the midst of plenty. Unfortunately, these resources when exploited are often not done so for the benefit of the people of Africa.
The availability and abundance of these resources present Africa with great investment opportunities. The paucity of a credible continental legal and economic framework defining Africa's investment needs has led to a scramble for Africa's resources by the leading nations of the world, from West to the East. This scramble has in turn generated an economic cold war that affects all sectors of Africa's economic, political and social life.
Investing in Africa under the prevailing economic, judicial and political condition breeds significant challenges and invites critical questions that require answers. Significant among these is the question whether a credible independent judicial mechanism exists within Africa that regulates investment contracts in Africa that benefits Africa. Do African countries possess independent judiciaries capable of guaranteeing the security of investments in the continent through fair trial processes? Who negotiates the terms of the investments? Are the terms of negotiated investments favorable to Africa? Do investment contracts in Africa contain transfer of technology clauses aimed at transforming African economies from markets of cheap raw materials to markets for processed finished products? Is Africa endowed with an enabling legal environment for negotiating, drafting, interpreting and adjudicating investment conflicts? What are the opportunities and challenges that investors face in Africa? How can these challenges be surmounted? The answers to these questions and more are the subject of this paper.
The Universal Foundations of the Independence of the Judiciary
Among the founding objectives of the United Nations enshrined in the preamble of the UN Charter was a reaffirmation of " … faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity of nations large and small, and the establishment of conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and sources of international law can be maintained, to promote social and better standards of life in freedom; and to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples".[1]
These universal conditions for the administration of justice significantly inspired and informed the founding of the United Nations in 1945. Justice for all was therefore, conceived and proclaimed a critical instrument for the promotion and protection of peace, and "the economic and social advancement of all peoples".
In furtherance of this objective, the UN multilateral human rights treaty regime adopted provisions that guarantee the independence and impartiality of the Judiciary and recommended that they be enshrined in the laws of state parties to the respective conventions.[2] To safeguard, protect and promote the independence of the judiciary within the international and national justice systems, the United Nations adopted the "Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary".[3]
The preamble of these basic principles emphasizes that the organization and administration of justice in every country, member state of the United Nations must be inspired by the principles. It states that efforts must be undertaken to translate these principles fully into reality. And that the rules concerning the exercise of judicial office should aim at enabling judges to act in accordance with the principles, because "judges are charged with the ultimate decision over life, freedoms, rights, duties and property of citizens".
There is therefore no gainsaying that the United Nations Charter foundation of universal tenets of Justice as the underlying principles for the attainment of world peace, security, economic well-being and prosperity of nations big and small, is well settled in customary international law. It is on this basis that these principles are enshrined in the Constitutions of member states.
It cannot reasonably be disputed that at the founding of the United Nations in 1945, Africa was not a subject of international law. Africa and peoples of Africa descent were not contemplated by the founding fathers of the United Nations when they made the justice, economic, human rights and security pledges as the salvific tenets of a new world order and civilization. The so-called big and small nations that came under the protections afforded in the UN Charter did not include Africa and peoples of African descent. They were then invariably considered as chattel, European possessions, colonies by any other name but nations or states. Emerging from the humiliation of its World War defeat and occupation by Germany, France for example, led a genocidal campaign in its French Africa possessions orchestrating the extermination of millions of pro-independence nationalists and armless civilians in French Cameroun and Algeria.[4]
Without the protections afforded by the United Nations Charter Africa was deprived on the economic sovereignty over its vast natural resources. Africa could not exercise judicial independence over commerce, industry and investments in the continent. There was therefore no investment charter for the benefits of African European colonies or possessions. Investments benefitted the colonial masters and their national economies. Africans were valued as slave labour and nothing more.
Decrying this situation in 1949 Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe ( Zik of Africa) in an Address delivered at the Plenary Session of the British Peace Congress powerfully submitted "There is gold in Nigeria. Coal, lignite, tin, columbite, tantalite, lead, diamonite, thorium, (uranium-133), and tungsten in Nigeria, rubber, cocoa, groundnuts, benniseeds, coton, palm oil, and palm kernels. Timber of different kinds is found in many areas of this Africa fairyland. Yet despite these natural resources which indicate potential wealth, the great majority of Nigerians live in want".[5] Dr Azikiwe speaking for all Africans stated emphatically, "therefore, we are compelled to denounce imperialism as a crime against humanity, because it destroys human dignity and is a constant cause of wars".
Invoking the human carnage and devastation of the just ended World War 2 in which Africans were drafted to combat not as free people fighting for the interests of Africa and African Peoples, but as mere tools or instruments of warfare deployed to protect the economic and security interests of their colonial masters, Dr Azikiwe made the following proclamation amongst others: "We shall no longer be dragooned to act as cannon fodder in the military juggernaut of hypocrites who dangle before our people misleading slogans in order to involve humanity in carnage and destruction".
The conscience awakening alarm raised by Zik of Africa in the threshold of the founding of the United Nations with lofty principles underpinning justice and economic empowerment as the salvation credo for a peaceful, prosperous world which ignored the situation of Africa and black peoples the world over, endures to this day. It endures because the cosmetic independence that was granted to many African states did not alter the European economic and political vassal possessions status that was imposed on them by European colonial treaties.
Due to the enduring effects of these injustices against Africa, it is safe to submit that the supposed tenets of universal justice, that includes the independence of the judiciary are elusive in Africa making the security of investments in the continent attainable but elusive.
Identifying the Investment and Justice Needs for Africa
The submission that the attainment of the goals of fair, credible and independent justice for Africa faces serious though surmountable obstacles may better be articulated through the following address credited to His Excellency President Jakaya Kwikete to the United Nations in New York in 2008.
Addressing the United Nations as Chairman of the African Union, President Kikwete reminded the world body that Africa rejected war, HIV Aids and Poverty as templates on which to anchor a just world security and economic order. He warned that highlighting the adoption of the UN political declaration on African development needs must not obfuscate the fact that poverty and the need to establish economic growth to overcome it was the continent's greatest challenge. He pointed out that some so-called Millennium Development Goals were inadequate in addressing the serious shortfall in resources to meet African development needs. President Kikwete stated that "In trade, Africa's prospects remained bleak as the Doha Round was stalled. New negative trends included climate change and soaring fuel and food prices". [6]
In the face of this bleak picture of the African condition, there is an urgent need for investments in Africa must aim at attenuating poverty, Africa energy self-sufficiency and production industries for the processing and transformation of raw materials into finished products. There is an urgent need for the establishment of efficient healthcare, food security, science and technology and communication industries in Africa by Africans. Foreign investors are invited to invest in Africa but the investments must aim at and relevant to the attainment of Africa economic and investment goals. Investments in Africa that not include aim at the transfer of technology for the transformation of Africa's raw materials and natural resources to finished products for the universal market are deemed not to benefit Africa.
To satisfy Africa's investment needs, stable, credible, efficient and effective legal frameworks capable of attracting foreign and national investments must be established. Do the existing legal institutions in Africa provide adequate security for foreign and national investments that aim at promoting growth and the economic prosperity of the continent and its people? I hesitate at this point in time to answer this question in the positive. This is not for the lack of capital building capacity by African investors, economic operators, capable independent judiciaries or competent professional lawyers who can manage the continent's investment portfolio. The critical obstacle to attaining these goals is the ghost of Africa's colonial past which is still lingering within the continent and manipulating the soul of the continent at all levels of constitutional governance; making profitable investments that benefit Africa and its people difficult.
The Constitutional Guarantee of the Independence of the Judiciary
When most of Africa gained independence in the early 1960's, the newly independent countries became member states of the United Nations. By their membership of the UN, they pledged allegiance to the United Nations Charter and thereafter ratified or adhered to many conventions in the UN Economic and Human Rights regime.
The constitutions of almost all independent African countries have provisions on separation of powers with the judiciary being an independent arm of government. The constitutions of these African countries guarantee the independence of the judiciary. Despite of the provision of article 26 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights guaranteeing through constitutional protections the independence of the judiciary, the effective independence of the judiciary as a constitutional arm of government remains illusory in many African countries. The enabling legislation regulating the administration of justice in many African countries contradicts the intendment of the constitutional guarantees of independence of the judiciary; compromising its independence.[7]
A decision of African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights in a case brought by the Southern Cameroons against the Republic of Cameroon, better explains this point succinctly. In that case the African Commission decided that Cameroon lacked independence of the judiciary despite the existence of a constitutional provision guaranteeing the independence of the judiciary and separation or powers[8]. In that decision, the African Commission found that the lack of independence of the Cameroon judiciary violated article 26 of the Africa Charter.
The decision was predicated on an admission by Cameroon that it did not have an independent judicial service commission and that the President of the Republic was the Chairman of the Higher Judicial Council while the Minister of Justice the Vice President of the Council. The said council has a mandate for the administration and guaranteeing the independence of the judiciary. The African Commission found that by subjugating the judiciary to the executive arm of government, Cameroon was in violation of its treaty obligations by violating article 26 of the African Charter. The Commission asked Cameroon to provide an effective remedy by making its judiciary genuinely independent, a decision Cameroon has failed to implement.
A melting pot of competing conflicting investment interests
An anxious look at foreign and national investment policies in Africa against available investments opportunities and the investment needs of the continent, there is justification in characterizing Africa as a melting pot of competing conflicting investment interests. Foreign investment in Africa has a checkered history and a tortious purpose. Like a chameleon, it assumes different colours while remaining in substance, the same.
Prior to independence, foreign trade policies of African European colonies were imposed rather than negotiated. African economies were rudimentary and mainly aimed at producing and supplying raw materials for the European industrial and commercial markets. The huge mineral deposits and agricultural potential which Dr Azikiwe talked about in his 1949 address referred to earlier in this paper, although belonging to Nigeria and Nigerians, as a matter of colonial and imperial policy, in reality belonged to Her Majesty the Queen of England's Government.
The colonial institutions at independence contained imposed military, monetary, economic, educational, social and cultural cooperation treaties that subjugated the economic sovereignty of the colonies to the erstwhile colonial powers. In former French Africa colonies, France imposed pre and post-independence cooperation agreements imposed that subjugated their economic, monetary and defense sovereignty to the control of France[9].
The subsistence of these treaties and colonial policies in Independent African countries renders an effective exercise of sovereignty over constitutional institutions among them independent judiciaries illusory. This state of affairs led Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah to conclude that "any form of economic union negotiated singly between the fully industrialized states of Europe and the newly emergent countries of Africa is bound to retard the industrialization, and therefore the prosperity and general economic and cultural development, of these countries. For it will mean that those African states which may be inveighed into joining this union will continue to serve as protected markets for the manufactured goods of their industrialized partners, and sources of cheap raw materials".[10] The existence of these colonial and neo-colonial economic treaties have retained Africa in what Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe characterized as "a perennial source of war"[11].
In seeking to safeguard and enforce these subsisting colonial and neo-colonial imposed preferential economic and investment treaties, the erstwhile colonial powers and the economic blocs in which they belong have resorted to using coercive methods to impose unfavourable terms of trade and investment terms that auction away African mineral resources and raw materials at prices and conditions intended to recolonize supposed independent states. These includes, economic sabotage, political instability, coups, military intervention and the manipulation of international institutions to discredit, subvert and isolate governments and peoples who dare turn their backs on colonial and neo-colonial puppetry.
In attempts to render the resource endowed countries of Africa ungovernable, alternative sources of power control are funded among the civil society, national and international Non-Governmental Organizations, the Military and the political class. With the use of weapons and funds supplied to these organizations, violent political activism triumphs over laudable civil society activism whose primary purpose ought to have been protecting and promoting the social, economic, political and civic rights of the citizenry.
The sources of instability arising from political and socio-economic factors are easily traced to the desire to control the natural resources and raw materials of African countries. The militarization of the political and economic life of the continent aimed at destabilizing many resource endowed African countries can be traced to this factor. Examples abound, but suffice to cite the failed recent violent regime change attempts in Burundi, Central Africa Republic, South Sudan, Angola and Libya.
According to Adekeye Adebajo and Kaye Whiteman, "the EU willingness to find ways of being militarily involved in Africa has been encouraged by France (seeking ways to justify its own continued military presence in Africa).[12] The problem with the ambitious mission of the EU to support peace and security initiatives as outlined in the EU Common Position on the Prevention, Management and Resolution of Violent Conflicts in Africa is that in conceptual terms, the EU initiative seems good. But it conflates and conceals the colonial and neo-colonial treaties entered into by individual erstwhile colonial powers like France and Belgium in significant regards.
These colonial treaties and policies fuel and sustain the instability that the EU aims to prevent or redress. The erstwhile colonial powers habouring economic and political ambitions to control and micromanage the economic and political life of their former African colonies targeted by the EU initiative are not faithful participants in the EU initiative. There is overwhelming evidence establishing that they are the sources of instability in Africa. These former colonial powers have consistently used their EU members to attempt to railroad the EU initiative to attain their neo-colonial agenda.
The mitigated result of the EU initiative in Central Africa Republic even with the presence in the territory of French troops who have maintained a military base there since independence is an alarming example of this policy of duplicity on the part of France. Mineral resources Burundi has consistently accused Belgium which recently accepted responsibility and apologized for the assassination of Patrice Lumumba plunging the Democratic Republic of Congo into a blood bath that endures till date, for supporting a rebellion within its national territory aimed at effecting a regime change and controlling its natural resources.
The failed belligerent EU policy towards Burundi demonstrated by an overwhelming objection of an EU resolution submitted to the 33rd Session of the Joint EU-ACP Parliamentary Conference on 19 June 2017 arises from this policy. For the EU initiative to attain its objective, the EU must call on its member states to rescind with immediate all colonial and neo-colonial treaties or so-called cooperation agreements that undermine the sovereignty of African states and constitute a "perennial source of war", violence, instability, impunity and criminality. These perennial sources of war have subverted the rule of law and sound constitutional governance.
Africa does not manufacture weapons but the investment in arms through legal and illegal channels fuels internecine armed conflict on the continent. For this to occur, the mineral resources and raw material of African countries are carted away to support materialistic and capitalist cartels in foreign in other continents. These colonial and neo-colonial treaties are not subject to legal challenges before the judiciary of the African countries concerned depriving the citizens of those countries the opportunity to test their validity and legality before independent judges. This keeps significant areas of the African investment and commercial sectors out of independent judicial scrutiny. The Neocolonial economic cartels have also concluded treaties keeping the judicial scrutiny before national courts, key public and private investment sectors in the defense industry, the oil industry, the energy industry and some strategic mineral contracts. With this, corruption is institutionalized at the expense of the people's sovereignty over their resources, their economic well-being and prosperity.
Owning African investment dilemma and its Judicial quagmire
For Africa to attract valuable national and international investments that meets African prosperity needs, they must aim at attaining economic sovereignty over its natural resources. Africa must put in place valuable judicial institutions that are competent, independent and reliable.
Investment contracts are quite often negotiated by non-professional bureaucrats and politicians without the assistance of lawyers and professionals in the varying sectors of the economy in which the investment is taking place. This often results in unfavorable terms in the investment contracts with adjudication clauses that defer the interpretation of the contracts and conflict resolutions to foreign arbitration and adjudication bodies outside the continent. African lawyers and the judiciary are often not even contemplated as key actors in the negotiation of investment contracts and the adjudication of investment disputes in case of conflict. This leaves investments in Key sectors of African economies in the hands of expatriates and foreign agents whose agenda is to stultify the much desired growth of Africa economies.
It has hardly been contemplated nor desired that a transfer of technology clause if inserted into foreign investment contracts could lead to the rapid transformation of Africa from a continent of perpetual slave labour to a continent that processes and transforms its raw materials for the national and universal markets. Africa must own its problems and accept to conceive and apply some dose of painful remedy to this complex life threatening ailment.
Since President Kikwete raised the alarm that placed the required focus on "poverty and the need to establish economic growth to overcome the continent's challenges" citing Africa's prospects as remaining bleak with the Doha Round stalling', and new negative trends that included climate change and soaring fuel and food prices", Africa has made frantic judicial and continental level efforts towards addressing these problems. The AU has made some adjustments in its focus towards seeking solutions to the continent's security, economic, health, technological research, energy, mineral exploitation, communication, inter-African and Pan African justice needs. The efforts deployed so far though commendable are still insufficient or not commensurate to the magnitude of the problems.
The AU significantly made giant steps towards establishing an African Criminal Court to try crimes committed in Africa, relieving the continent of the humiliating focus of the international criminal court which gives the perception that Africans may be inherently criminal. The Malabo Protocol granting the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights have more than any international court in history criminalized crimes which from Nuremburg and Tokyo World War Tribunals no other international court has criminalized.
The Protocol targets a wide variety of crimes perpetrated on the continent including economic crimes.[13] The criminalization of the crimes of illicit exploitation of resources, trafficking in hazardous wastes, terrorism, money laundering, unconstitutional change of government, piracy and the crime of aggression have at long last awaken the enduring effects of the hitherto unpunished historic crimes of slavery, imperialism, colonialism and neo-colonialism from which colonial cooperation agreements and treaties drew legitimacy for eternal banishment from the continent of Africa. In other words, criminalizing these crimes at long last will target and slay the beast of colonial crimes and its offspring allowing room for Africa to develop and prosper in peace.
The African Union needs to conceive and proclaim an African Investment and economic Charter for the continent. The AU needs to summon as a matter of urgency, an Africa business forum in which governments and business operators in Africa will set in motion a mechanism and frame work for investment in Africa. The African Union lacks a clearing house for informing African investors and entrepreneurs the business potential of each African country. The Proposed investment and business Charter should aim at the AU working on harmonization business and investment law in Africa to enable African and foreign investors to invest in the continent. Presently, colonial and neo-colonial treaties favour foreign investors, particularly those from former colonial powers.
There is no reason why investment contracts in specific areas or sectors of the African economies should not prioritize national and African investors making foreign investors come in as partners only. Africa has to start training its own road investor contractors. African banks have to start providing loans to support African investments in key areas of the African economy.
African lawyers must mobilize to intervene and settle African conflicts of a political and economic nature. There is no reason why the AU cannot establish a Pan African institution for the settlement of investments disputes on the continent. There is no reason why the AU with the support of the African Bar Association cannot establish a Pan African Board of Arbitration to which different arbitration bodies in the continent will be affiliated. Such an arbitration board will keep a roaster of arbitrators from which arbitrators will be to meet the arbitration needs of investors in Africa.
There is no reason why the AU cannot make article 26 of the African Charter more functional by establishing a more robust mechanism within the AU aimed at encouraging and protecting the independence of the judiciary in member states. In this regard, for a member of the judiciary of a state party to be eligible for appointment to a high judicial organ within the AU institutional framework or within an international judicial or quasi-judicial institution requiring AU support, the constitutional and institutional arrangement in the state party must guarantee independence of the judiciary. A failure to set standards in this regard, led to two Judges from the Cameroon Judiciary which the African Commission on Human found in the Ngwang Gumne v Cameroon (The Southern Cameroons Case) not to be independent to be elected to the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights and to the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights making a total mockery of its decision indicting the Cameroon judiciary for not being independent.
The Assembly of African leaders, lawyers, businessmen, professionals from all walks of life, the press and millions alive and unborn will look at this occasion with pride. With pride because African lawyers under the banner of the African Bar Association have risen to the occasion and the challenge to summon all of us here to make an informed pledge to lay down an enduring framework of investment, economic sovereignty and prosperity for Africa.
There is general agreement that investing in Africa will provide a much desired panacea for the dire economic situation facing our continent. The security of these investments needs be guaranteed by competent professional lawyers and an independent judiciary. Africa has significant investment opportunities, competent professional lawyers and independent judges. However, the ability of these key actors to manage Africa's investment portfolio in ways that benefit Africa and the investors is hampered by powerful extraneous actors and factors.
There is a compelling need for all judicial actors in Africa and the judiciary to organize, assert and prove their expertise, proficiency and relevance in playing the role of key actors in managing the investment portfolio of Africa with unblemished expertise and uncontested independence. This conference on investment in Africa is critical and timely. The next conference on the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law complement must be organized to complement the results of this conference.
I respectfully submit that the proceedings of this conference and all the very rich conference papers presented here be delivered to the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, the UN Economic Commission for Africa, all African leaders and universities in Africa to help refocus the desired attention on investments in Africa.
*Chief Charles A. Taku is Executive Council of the AFBA, Member for Life; Vice-President of the ICCBA, Member of the Executive and Defence Committee of the ICCBA; Vice-President of ADAD; and Lead-Counsel at the ICC.The paper was presented at the conference of the African Bar Association in Port Harcourt from 7 to 10 August 2017
[1] Preamble, Charter of the United Nations, 24 October 1945.
[2] Articles 8 and 10, UN General Assembly, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 10 December 1948. Article 14, UN General Assembly, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 16 December 1966, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 999, p. 171.
[3] Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary Adopted by the Seventh United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders held at Milan from 26 August to 6 September 1985 and endorsed by General Assembly resolutions 40/32 of 29 November 1985 and 40/146 of 13 December 1985.
[4] The French campaign in French Cameroun commenced in 1948, the same year the UN Declaration on Human Rights was proclaimed against the Union des Population du Cameroun UPC founded by Um Nyobe Mpodol and continued this campaign directly or by proxy until 1971 when the last nationalist leader of the UPC Ernest Ouandie was assassinated.
[5] From an address delivered at the Second Annual Conference of the Congress of Peoples Against Imperialism on "Colonies and War" Poplar, London, on October 9, 1949 quoted in Wilfred Cartey and Martin Kilson: The Africa Reader: Independent Africa Rabdom House New York 1970 pp 74 and 75.
[6] President Jakaya Kikwete, AU Chairman Address to the United Nations in New York 23 September 2008.
[7] Article 26 of the African Charter states that "State Parties to the present Charter shall have the duty to guarantee the independence of the Courts and shall allow the establishment and improvement of appropriate national institutions entrusted with the promotion and protection of the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the present Charter".
[8] Communication No. 266/2003, 27 May 2009, African Commission for Human Rights, Ngwang Gumne v Cameroon para. 132.
[9] Cooperation Agreement signed between Ahmadou Ahidjo and France dated December 12, 1959. Cameroon attained independence on January 1, 1960 .The cooperation agreement in its articles 1-6 reserve the authority to 1) determine Cameroon's economic, political, and socio-cultural orientations to France.2) France shall manufacture currency for Cameroon called the CFA.3) France shall guide the determination of educational programs at all levels.4) The French national treasury shall have a portfolio named operations account to cover 100% of Cameroon's foreign exchange. After a series of revisions, the percentage stands at 50% today. 5) France shall have strategic priority in the exploitation of Cameroon's raw materials.6) On 10th November 1961, shortly Cameroon annexed and colonized the Southern Cameroons in the evening of September 30, 1961, President Ahidjo signed a military cooperation agreement with France in which the French army may be invited by the Cameroon President or the French Ambassador in Cameroon to send French troops to suppress an internal rebellion or insurrection or any threats to the regime in place. The Southern Cameroon had voted in a UN sponsored plebiscite to attain independence by joining the independent Republic of Cameroon upon terms to be worked out prior to independence. The independence was attained leading the way for the termination of the trusteeship over the Southern Cameroons but the sovereignty to negotiate a union treaty was subverted by the annexation and military occupation of the territory.
[10] Osafgyfo Dr Kwame Nkrumah: Neocolonialism in Africa in Africa Must Unite, (New York, 1964 cited in The Africa Reader: Independent Africa edited by Wilfred Cartey and Martin Kilson Random House New York, 1970 p. 220.
[11] The African Reader, p. 60.
[12] Adekeye Adebajo and Kaye Whiteman: The EU and Africa: From EuroAfrique to Afro-Europa, 2012, Hurst and Company, London, p.17.
[13] Malabo Protocol Granting Criminal Jurisdiction to the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights (Adopted in Malabo Equatorial Guinea in June 2014) Articles 28 D, 28 E, 28 F, 28 F, 28 I, 28,Ibis, 28 J, 28 J, 28 L, 28 L Bis, 28 M. In addition to the crimes punishable under the Statute of Ad Hoc Tribunals and the ICC, the Malabo Protocol criminalizes and punishes the crimes unconstitutional change of government, piracy, terrorism, mercenarism, corruption, money laundering, trafficking in persons, trafficking in hazardous wastes, and illicit exploitation of resources.
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The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) says it is targeting 85 per cent of Abuja residents during the upcoming Yellow fever preventive campaign.
The Secretary, Health and Human Services Secretariat, FCTA, Mr Abubakar Bappa, disclosed this to newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja.
Bappa said the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) and other international donor partners would support the administration in the mass vaccination.
According to him, the international donors include the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF).
He said the campaign, which would be carried out in six states including the FCT, was scheduled from Nov. 24 to Dec. 7.
He said that the target age group was nine months to 44 years.
"The goal of the yellow fever preventive mass vaccination campaign is to reduce transmission by achieving 95 per cent coverage in implementing states and local government areas.
"This is in line with the strategy for the elimination of yellow fever epidemics by 2026.
"The mass campaign is based on the 2008 risk assessment which identified 20 states and FCT as high risk states.
"Similarly, the phase one of the yellow fever vaccination campaign was completed in 2014 and it targeted three states of Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Nasarawa, in which 10.4 million people were covered,'' Bappa said.
He said in 2018, five cases of yellow fever were confirmed with three deaths out of 15 reported in the FCT.
"I have to let you know that the FCT is ready for this exercise as scheduled.
"The target population to be vaccinated in the FCT is 3,293,438; that is 85 per cent of the total FCT population.
"The total number of teams to be used in FCT is 1,342 including 171 special teams,'' the official said.
According to him, the vaccination will take place at all government health facilities and temporary posts in chiefs' palaces and other public places in the communities.
He said that the outreach teams would vaccinate eligible persons in churches, schools and other institutions.
Bappa said the FCTA would use the vaccination campaign to strengthen the state's health system and immunisation programmes.
"We will strengthen the pharmaco-vigilance system for monitoring adverse effects following immunisation as well as implement a high quality vaccination campaign which takes lessons from previous campaign into consideration.
"The vaccination is by injection, given on the left upper arm. It is free and safe,'' he said.
Yellow fever, the secretary said, was a viral disease usually of short duration, adding that in most cases, symptoms are similar to those of malaria fever including fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea and muscle pains.
He said for about 15 per cent of people, within a day of improving, the fever comes back with abdominal pain and liver damage causing yellow skin with increasing risk of bleeding and kidney problems.
Bappa said the disease was caused by the yellow fever virus and is spread by the bite of primarily an infested female Aedes Aegypti mosquito.
The Aedes Aegypti is a type of mosquito found throughout the tropics and subtropics.


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Fake game cheating app trolls cheats and posts their comical comeuppances online
Rob Beschizza 6:26 am Fri Nov 12, 2021
Annoyed with all the cheating going on in Counterstrike, ScriptKid made a fake cheating app. It looks like the real thing, but if you download it and run it, it won't help you win. It will punish you for the amusement of others.
When a real cheater tries to use it, it backfires on them. It punishes them in game by making them do stuff like dropping their weapons in certain situations, or even shooting their own teammates—and much much more. And the best part is it sends me a POV replay of the cheaters match, so we can watch it happen to them.
The punishments are surprisingly ingenious. For example, one level has a hole blown in a wall, which serves as a doorway players often pass through, but you can't go through it if you're running the cheat software. Yet they keep trying! The cherry on top is ScriptKid's total joy in narrating it all.
Two Los Angeles cops fired for ignoring robbery to chase a Snorlax in Pokémon GO
Los Angeles Police Department officers Louis Lozano and Eric Mitchell were fired for ignoring a robbery-in-progress because they were busy chasing a Snorlax in Pokémon GO. They appealed their termination in court but were denied. The official court opinion document is really something else. For example: For approximately the next 20 minutes, the [Digital In… READ THE REST
Are your social media feeds clogged with green, yellow, and gray boxes? Thank Wordle
Wordle is a word-guessing game similar to the code-breaking game Mastermind. But instead of trying to figure out a sequence of four colored pegs, you have to figure out a random five-letter word. You get six tries, and you can only play once per day (everyone gets the same word that day). With each guess,… READ THE REST
The text adventures of St. Bride's School, a mysterious women's retreat in 1980s Ireland
Under the pretext of reviewing the IF game Silverwolf, Aaron A. Reed tells the tale of St. Bride's School, a peculiar Victorian-themed women's retreat active in Ireland in the 1980s. Its operators' many pseudonyms remain mysterious to this day, and its impenetrable blend of feminism, fetishism and reactionary conservatism may have been a discordian op… READ THE REST
Working outside the office just got way easier, thanks to this portable 4K touchscreen monitor
We thank our sponsor for making this content possible; it is not written by the editorial staff nor does it necessarily reflect its views. You do a lot on that little laptop of yours, from (reluctantly) answering work emails to shopping for a new ride. But with all these digital tasks come many annoying roadblocks,… READ THE REST
Your cat will have a ball with new self-moving teaser ball for only $29
We thank our sponsor for making this content possible; it is not written by the editorial staff nor does it necessarily reflect its views. If you've got a fuzzy feline friend at home, you know how important it is to keep them active and stimulate their curiosity. They can get bored quickly of stationary toys, and… READ THE REST
IT hopefuls are digging these online cybersecurity courses
We thank our sponsor for making this content possible; it is not written by the editorial staff nor does it necessarily reflect its views. There's only so much side-hustling you can do in one lifetime — perhaps it's about time you chose a career that has great earning potential you can really enjoy, like cybersecurity.… READ THE REST


The VDI PULSE go-to-market initiative enables NetApp partners and consultants to leverage data-driven analysis from Stratusphere UX to accelerate adoption of next-generation flash storage arrays.
Liquidware Labs, the leader in desktop transformation software solutions and NetApp today announced the launch and availability of the VDI PULSE program, an alliance partner enablement program. VDI PULSE enables NetApp consultants and partners to deliver comprehensive audits of their customers' environments in order to quantify the benefits of implementing a next-generation flash storage solution.
The program and analysis is based on Liquidware Labs award-winning solution Stratusphere UX, and includes a custom-generated report designed in collaboration between NetApp and Liquidware Labs engineering teams.
Liquidware Labs provides access to the software, license and report required to deliver the VDI PULSE deliverables at no cost to NetApp consultants or partners.
For more information or to take advantage of the Liquidware Labs and NetApp VDI PULSE program, go to alliance.liquidwarelabs.com/Acceler8/partner/netapp-pulse.asp.


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Home Editorial Diamond League Chinese long jump stars to take on world's best at Shanghai Diamond...
Chinese long jump stars to take on world's best at Shanghai Diamond League
Marleen Rennings
China's teenage long jump star Wang Jianan will lead a quartet of homegrown talent against two of the world's best leapers at the 2016 Shanghai Diamond League on 14 May, the meeting organisers announced today.
Wang was two days short of his 19th birthday when he bagged a bronze medal at the World Championships in Beijing last year, finishing just one place behind Australia's Fabrice Lapierre with compatriots Gao Xinglong and Li Jinzhe filling places four and five.
All three will feature in Shanghai alongside Huang Changzhou, the 21-year-old who won world indoor bronze in Portland last month, as the best of China takes on Lapierre and last year's world number one, Jeff Henderson, in what promises to be one of the highlights of China's premier one-day athletics meeting.
Wang leapt an Asian junior record of 8.25m to finish a surprise third at the Shanghai meeting last year and went on to add the world bronze medal to the world junior title he won in 2014 and the Asian senior crown he picked up aged just 16 in 2013.
Wang will have to be on top form simply to win the domestic battle, however, as Li will be keen to re-assert his status as China's number one. The 26-year-old finished fifth in Beijing after winning the Asian championships in 2014 when he also set the national record of 8.47m.
Li was fourth in Shanghai last year after beating Olympic champion Greg Rutherford and 2013 world champion Aleksandr Menkov in front of his home crowd three years ago.
Gao was just out of the medals in Beijing last summer after claiming the 2015 Asian title in early June, while Huang was the man in form during the 2016 indoor season, when he placed third at the World Championships, sandwiched between Lapierre and Henderson.
Lapierre will start his Diamond League campaign full of confidence after breaking the Oceania indoor record to win silver in Portland, while Henderson will be looking to get back on track after he finished well out of the medals in Beijing last August.
The US athlete produced the three longest jumps in the world last year, including a world-leading leap of 8.52m to win the Pan American Games in Toronto but he failed to reproduce that form at the World Championships where he was ninth. Henderson was second in Shanghai last year, one of only two Diamond League meetings he contested in 2015.
More names will be announced for the 2016 Shanghai Diamond League meeting in the next few weeks.
The 2016 Shanghai Diamond League meeting on Saturday 14 May will include 18 events, 11 for men (100m, 800m, 5000m, 110m hurdles, 400m hurdles, high jump*, pole vault, long jump, shot put, javelin, 4x100m relay*) and seven for women (200m, 400m, 1500m, 3000m steeplechase, high jump, long jump, discus).
*non-Diamond League events
Fabrice Lapierre
Wang Jianan
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In TV news just in, the much-talked about TV show 'Married At First Sight', will be coming back for a second season in 2016, it was announced by Channel 9.
Australia has fallen in love with Married At First Sight Australia and we're excited to announce a second season on Channel 9 in 2016!
Are you a fan? Did you watch last night? What did you think?
Here is what I thought of the show - click here for my review.
So, how did the first episode rate last night?
According to OzTAM figures, it was the most popular non-news program on Monday night with 1.134 million viewers, narrowly beating Network Ten's MasterChef (1.129 million).


Wrecking ball special? Not even close! You would sure think so with this price tag but for the price conscious? This home is ALL THAT and more! You will certainly appreciate this 4/1.5 home with plenty of room to stretch out those elbows. This price even includes an O/S double garage with separate work space, carport, newer roof, metal siding and new electrical service. Who can say no to FABULOUS?
Property was built prior to 1978 and lead based paint may potentially exist.


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Structured Lending
Alexander T. Mason
Arthur W. Bingham
Brian T. Bristol
Leigh Hoagland
Private Investor Growth Capital
Partner Buy Out
Middle Market Acquisition Financing
Private Equity Commitments
Amount: New York Private Finance offers secured, medium-term financings (up to six years), with deal sizes ranging from $5 million to $35 million.
Purpose: Our loans are made to individual borrowers principally to finance their equity investments in private, middle market companies to fund growth strategies, make acquisitions, buy out partners, obtain more attractive overall financing terms or effect generational changes of control. Our facilities are made to individuals or SPV's with full personal guarantees secured by pledges of collateral and are not obligations of the operating vehicles into which the client invests.
Collateral: Collateral for these loans consists of pledges of illiquid assets such as stock in privately held companies, interests in private equity funds, venture capital portfolios or other asset classes typically held by private investors active in the middle market.
Loans are structured to co-exist with more conventional facilities from private banks, which may be secured by liquid assets or residential real estate.
Rate: In addition to charging a current coupon, a portion of the interest cost of each loan takes the form of a "participating interest" in the investing activity of the client. Investors view this as an alignment of interests, and the all-in cost is lower than that of corporate mezzanine debt financing.
Borrowers see us as a lower cost alternative to outside private equity or corporate mezzanine debt, and our loans work well with all types of business capital.
Examples of Structured Lending with New York Private Finance (click each one to learn more)
The Scenario: Three partners in a middle market real estate development and management company had created substantial value in the holding company that managed their real estate empire. Although individual projects and the company itself were appropriately financed, their equity in the holding company was lying fallow. They engaged with NYPF to borrow against their illiquid personal stakes in the enterprise.
The Deal: We provided a $20 million, five-year structured loan to the partners through a jointly-held, private investment company. These funds were then used to increase the rate at which they took on new projects and the size of their personal investments in individual projects.
The Result: The result was a substantial step-up in their personal wealth creation, a large increase in the performance of their enterprise, and ultimately the sale of a stake in the company to a private equity fund at a significantly enhanced valuation.
The Scenario: The owner of a specialty food company had taken an investment from a family friend to fund the development of his business. As the business matured and the investor reached a certain age, both sides saw the wisdom of the owner/operator buying out his passive partner. To fund the partner buy-out, the owner evaluated private equity, corporate mezzanine debt and a structured loan from NYPF.
The Deal: He chose to borrow against his illiquid equity from NYPF because we afforded him 100% control of his company, provided him a competitive cost of capital and maintained the covenant flexibility he desired with respect to his senior lenders at the operating level.
The Result: The business is now generating cash flow sufficient to retire the NYPF structured loan prior to its maturity.
The Scenario: An independent waste management owner/operator had recently concluded a recapitalization of his business designed to position it to grow via acquisition with an eye to an eventual sale. His lenders in the recap, a major bank, had imposed covenants that limited distributions to him until the business achieved certain free cash flow thresholds. Although reasonable, these covenants served as a potential constraint on his ability personally to fund several related technology and resource investments.
The Deal: NYPF structured a personal loan against his illiquid equity which provided the medium term flexibility he needed.
The Results: The loan to the owner/operator allowed the company to pursue its acquisition strategy, while the entrepreneur captured the upside of technological innovation – all of which served to improve investment diversification and to increase the pace his of wealth creation.
The Scenario: A successful entrepreneur who had established a single family office acting as an independent private equity sponsor sought to borrow against a broad range of illiquid assets including equity in directly invested private companies, private equity funds and venture capital pools. The use of proceeds was to meet periodic capital calls from passive investments as well as to provide substantial capital to inject in two start-ups created by him: a private equity fund with a unique specialization; and an on-line financial services venture.
The Deal: NYPF structured an initial loan of $5 million. Continuing growth in the value of his illiquid portfolio, coupled with certain limited liquidity events and substantial increases in the value and opportunity set for his two start-ups, caused him to seek increased funding from NYPF twice since the inception of the loan.
The Result: The facility grew to more than 3X the initial amount and set the stage for a major upcoming liquidity event.
Brian Bristol, 212-850-4641, bristolb@nyprivfin.com
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