JTown Media

Alphabet Inc’s Google has fired an employee who wrote an internal memo that ascribed gender inequality in the technology industry to biological differences. James Damore, the engineer who wrote the memo, confirmed his dismissal saying that he had been fired for “perpetuating gender stereotypes”. Damore said he is exploring all possible legal remedies. Google refused to comment on the case as it said it could not talk about individual employee cases. “Distribution of preferences and abilities of men and women differ in part due to biological causes and that these differences may explain why we don’t see equal representation of women in tech and leadership,” James wrote in an internal company memo last week. “Portions of the memo violate our Code of Conduct and cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace,” Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said. The memo stoked a heated debate over treatment of women in the male-dominated Silicon Valley that h...

North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un carrying out a nuclear test drill. The United Nations Security Council imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Saturday that could slash by a third the Asian state’s $3 billion annual export revenue over Pyongyang’s two intercontinental ballistic missile tests in July. The U.S.-drafted resolution bans North Korean exports of coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood. It also prohibits countries from increasing the current numbers of North Korean laborers working abroad, bans new joint ventures with North Korea and any new investment in current joint ventures. The unanimously adopted resolution adds nine individuals and four entities to the U.N. blacklist, including North Korea’s primary foreign exchange bank, subjecting them to a global asset freeze and travel ban.

The people of Ozubulu community in Ekwusigo local government area of Anambra State were thrown into mourning in the early hours of Sunday 6th August as a gunman walked into St Philip’s Catholic Church and started shooting sporadically, killing 11 and injuring 18 persons. The deceased and injured victims were taken to the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital in Nnewi. The governor of Anambra state, Willie Obaino who visited the scene to ascertain the level of damage and sympathize with the people, revealed that preliminary security investigations show that the shooting was caused by a feud between two brothers from the community living outside Nigeria. Read the report by the Governor’s Senior Special Assistant on Social Media, Ifeanyi. The Ozubulu community in Ekwusigo local government area of Anambra State were this morning thrown into mourning as a gunman walked into St Philip’s Catholic Church and started shooting sporadically, killing 11 and injuring 18 persons. On he...

A European Human Rights Court has given its verdict on a case of human rights that will compel a couple to allow their sick baby to die. The parents of the baby Chris Gard and Connie Yates have been in a long legal battle to save their baby who is suffering from a serious genetic illness. The baby is currently on life support while treatment options were being considered. At 8 weeks old, Charlie was diagnosed with mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome and is considered to be only one of 16 babies worldwide with this disease. His condition is progressive and currently incurable and eventually fatal. Meanwhile, doctors are developing treatments for the various mitochondrial conditions, including the nucleoside treatment Charlie’s parents have been fighting for.  Charlie’s parents prayed the court to determine if they, as parents, have the right to continue to provide medical treatments for their son or if he should be allowed to die The parents of the 10-months old ba...

Former Taraba state governor, Mr. Dambaba Suntai, who survived an air crash at the Yola Airport in 2012, is dead. He died at his home on Wednesday. He is reported to have brain injuries arising from the plane crash.  Mr. Emmanuel Bello, a former Commissioner for Information in the state, broke the news of the death. The former governor, who flew the light plane crashed in October 2012 had not recovered fully since then.  He became governor of Taraba state in 2007 and was sworn-in  again on May 29, 2011 for a second term. A pharmacist by training, Suntai enrolled for training as a pilot at the Nigerian College of Aviation in Zaria in 2010 and was thus licensed.  Prior to his plane crash in 2012, Suntai had been flown to Germany for medication after returning from his annual leave in August 2009, following a sudden ailment that was suspected to have developed from food poisoning.  On his return from Germany, Suntai spoke at the opening of a thre...

A new cyber virus spread from Ukraine to wreak havoc around globe on Wednesday, crippling thousands of computers, disrupting ports from Mumbai to Los Angeles and halting production at a chocolate factory in Australia. The virus is believed to have first taken hold on Tuesday in Ukraine where it silently infected computers after users downloaded a popular tax accounting package or visited a local news site, national police and international cyber experts said. More than a day after it first struck, companies around the world were still wrestling with the fallout while cyber security experts scrambled to find a way to stem the spread. Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk said it was struggling to process orders and shift cargoes, congesting some of the 76 ports around the world run by its APM Terminals subsidiary. U.S. delivery firm FedEx Corp said its TNT Express division had been significantly affected by the virus, which also wormed its way into South Ameri...

A spokesman for the U.S. military command in Kabul said earlier comments by an Afghan official that Americans had been killed were incorrect. But he confirmed that seven soldiers had been evacuated after being wounded in the incident at Camp Shaheen, the headquarters of the Afghan army's 209th Corps in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif. At least one Afghan soldier was killed and another wounded, the U.S. official said. He could not immediately say if the suspected shooter was among the dead or wounded. Abdul Qahar Araam, spokesman for the Afghan army's 209th Corps, announced earlier that an Afghan soldier had shot and killed four U.S. soldiers inside the base. In a statement, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said an Afghan commando loyal to the militant group had opened fire on foreign "invaders", killing four and wounding four others. The German military heads the multinational advising mission based in Mazar-i-Sharif. A spokeswoman for the Ger...