Mercyvill

Could sex on university campuses soon require a lot more talking? California Governor Jerry Brown signed the country's first affirmative consent law last week, which requires that both partners give ongoing consent during sexual activity. Following suit, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo last week ordered all of state-run universities to include an affirmative consent policy in their sexual assault investigation guidelines.

Brittany Maynard says 1 November is the day she will die. The 29-year-old was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in January, after suffering from debilitating headaches for more than a year. Following months of treatment, and a progressively worsening prognosis, Ms Maynard decided she had to change course. "After months of research, my family and I reached a heartbreaking conclusion: there is no treatment that would save my life, and the recommended treatments would have destroyed the time I had left," she writes in an opinion piece for CNN.com . She adds that as her cancer progresses, it could lead to excruciating pain, despite the strongest palliative medication.

Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize At a time when news has been a dark canvas of conflicts and calamities worldwide, the announcement beamed a bright light through the gloom. News of the Nobel Peace Prize did seem noble in its spirit, and symmetry. An Indian and a Pakistani, a Hindu and a Muslim, a relatively unsung hero and a global star. Nearly half a century separates two activists but their causes are now joined - their fight for children's rights. Even the timing seemed perfectly placed.

Author David Nicholls revealed that he spent two years writing his new book using an anti-procrastination app. Is procrastination a bigger problem than ever? Often it's so innocent. It might even be relevant initially. A quick Wikipedia fact-check, perhaps. But before long you've been sucked into the wormhole. Link after link, page after page. When you finally snap out of it you've lost a precious hour and you're reading about the intricacies of 16th Century Prussian politics. If this sounds familiar, you're not alone.

1. The problem Despite massive oil reserves and recent plans for rapid socio-economic development 5 , about 60% of the Nigerian population lives at, or below the poverty line with the average income at US$1 per day. 6 This widespread poverty, rabid urbanization, exponential population growth coupled with the lack of enforcement of legal instruments and high levels of crime and corruption increases the vulnerability of Nigerians – particularly children – to various forms of modern slavery, both within and outside the borders of Nigeria. 7 Child labour is also an issue, where high levels of poverty and unemployment means children are more likely to be forced to work to outside their family network to support themselves and their family.

Akaoua Babiana, the wife of Cameroon's deputy PM, was among the hostages released Twenty-seven people including 10 Chinese workers held for months by suspected Boko Haram militants have arrived in Cameroon's capital. The hostages were flown to Yaounde from the country's far northern region after being freed early on Saturday. They include the wife of Cameroon's Vice-Prime Minister, Amadou Ali. They were seized in two separate raids in May and July close to the Nigeria border. It is not clear how their release was secured.

Quentin Sommerville says he can hear frequent explosions coming from the town At least 553 people are said to have died in a month of fighting for Kobane, the Kurdish town just inside Syria under Islamic State (IS) attack. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based Syrian opposition body which monitors the conflict, counted 298 IS fighters among the dead. US aircraft have bombed IS positions as Kurdish fighters cling on to the town's vital border crossing with Turkey. But the defenders say they are outgunned on the ground.

Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai were recognised for their efforts to improve child rights Pakistani child education activist Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian child rights campaigner, have jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize. At the age of just 17, Malala is the youngest ever recipient of the prize. The teenager was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen in October 2012 for campaigning for girls' education. She now lives in Birmingham in the UK. The Nobel committee praised the pair's "struggle against the suppression of children and young people". Mr Satyarthi has maintained the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi and headed various forms of peaceful protests, "focusing on the grave exploitation of children for financial gain," the committee said at the Nobel Institute in Oslo.

Chris Dobson and Debs Torr want people to declare their support for their shower challenge on social media University students are being urged to urinate in the shower in a bid to save water. The Go with the Flow campaign is the brainchild of students Debs Torr and Chris Dobson, from the University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich. They want the university's 15,000 students to take their first wee of the day while having their morning shower. Mr Dobson, 20, said the idea could "save enough water to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool 26 times". The pair want those taking part to pledge their allegiance on Facebook and Twitter and have offered gift vouchers to the first people to join the challenge.

US public health director Thomas Frieden: "This is controllable and this was preventable" The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that Ebola is now entrenched in the capital cities of all three worst-affected countries and is accelerating in almost all settings. WHO deputy head Bruce Aylward warned that the world's response was not keeping up with the disease in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The three countries have appealed for more aid to help fight the disease. The outbreak has killed more than 3,860 people, mainly in West Africa. More than 200 health workers are among the victims. Speaking on Thursday, Mr Aylward said the situation was worse than it was 12 days ago. "The disease is entrenched in the capitals, 70% of the people affected are definitely dying from this disease, and it is accelerating in almost all of the settings,...

The huge task of rebuilding parts of Gaza after the recent war with Israel will be the focus of an international conference in Cairo this weekend. The 50-day conflict caused massive damage and thousands of casualties, overwhelming Gaza's hospitals. Neither Dr Naveen Cavale or Dr Simon Calvert had ever seen anything like it. The amateur video showed scenes of chaos - tens of doctors jostling from wounded to wounded; journalists with bulky TV cameras swarming around beds where dark red patches bloomed through patients' dressings. Some casualties lay on plastic sheets on the floor, IV drips dangling above their heads.

Teresa Romero Ramo's 'clinical situation has deteriorated' today Yolanda Fuentes, of Carlos III hospital, says the 44-year-old has asked no other information is given regarding her condition   Calls for Spanish health minister to step down amid concerns over protocol Fury erupts after health spokesman confirms pet dog has been destroyed   House disinfected before Excalibur's body was taken away in white van Demonstrators mounted a vigil outside to try to stop the move yesterday 300,000 people had already signed petition urging authorities to spare dog   Nurse said she found out she had Ebola from reading a newspaper website.

Public is being told that Ebola can only be transmitted by direct contact Experts warn that the possibility it could become airborne can't be ruled out  'Assurances Ebola is not spread through the air are misleading' - expert  Ebola has killed about 3,800 people in West Africa and infected at least 8,000 As the death toll from Ebola reaches 3,800, experts are warning that the virus could mutate and become airborne, meaning that it could be caught by breathing it in.

 ISIS boasts a jihadi fighter aged just TEN was killed as he went into battle with his father in Syria  Islamic State sympathisers share images of 10-year-old 'martyr' on Twitter Claim he was recently killed fighting alongside his militant father in Syria  Reports of death identify the bo y by alleged nom de guerre Abu Ubaidah Images show him wearing military clothing and posing with assault rifles   Islamic State militants and sympathisers are triumphantly circulating images of a 10-year-old boy they claim has been 'martyred' while fighting alongside his father in Syria. Describing the child as ISIS' youngest jihadist, chilling photographs taken before his alleged death show him smiling at the camera, wearing military fatigues and brandishing a huge assault rifle. ISIS sympathisers took to social media to identify the 'cub fighter' by his alleged nom de guerre Abu Ubaidah, adding that both he and his father were killed during clashes i...

Conspiracy theorists across the world are wallowing in fear. But one dog has managed to do what none of us could: make the outbreak human again That the internet was upset about the death of this dog makes a basic kind of internet sense. Not much else about Ebola does. Finally, the west has the first ebola victim it feels bad about. It was a dog. On Wednesday, Twitter was all aflutter with calls to spare the life of Excalibur, a dog owned by a Spanish nurse’s assistant from Madrid named Teresa Ramos. Ramos contracted Ebola, probably from caring for Spanish missionaries to Africa, and has been quarantined. Her husband was put in isolation to see if he had caught the disease via contact with her.

Germany's falling exports come on the back of weakening industrial output figures German exports fell sharply in August as later school holiday schedules and uncertainty over Ukraine combined to produce the largest monthly drop in five years. Exports fell 5.8% compared with July, German's Federal Statistical Office reported, while imports fell 1.3%. Its trade surplus shrank to €17.5bn (£13.8bn) as as result.

The Adventures of Tintin is one of the world’s most-loved comics. (Getty) One of Scott Roby’s first loves wasn’t a girl in elementary school or a kind teacher, but rather Marvel comic books. He loved the thin paper books for their “superhero stories with bold, raging coloring” and was captivated by their single-image, splash pages with a “whole, whammo sense of action”; and cliff-hangers on the final page.

FILE 2014: A student who escaped when Boko Haram rebels stormed a school in May and abducted schoolgirls, identifies her schoolmates from a video released by the Islamist rebel group at the Government House in Maiduguri, Borno State.  (Reuters) Boko Haram, the extremist Islamic group, reportedly beheaded seven people Monday in Nigeria in revenge attacks, which were described by one resident as the way butchers "slaughter goats."

A screen grab taken on August 24, 2014 from a video released by the Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram. A regional force put in place to counter the Boko Haram jihadist group in Nigeria will start operations in November. PHOTO | AFP   Summary The leaders agreed to speed up the creation of a headquarters for the force and have military battalions deployed “to our respective borders” by November 1, the heads of state said in a joint statement. The militants are thought to be in control of more than two dozen towns and villages in north eastern Nigeria. In July, Niger, Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon had each pledged 700 soldiers to create a multi-national force to fight the Nigeria-based group, which has killed more than 10,000 people since 2009.

By thewillnigeria.com Courtesy of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nigerians are getting to know that the kidnapped Chibok girls are about to be released, and the Goodluck Jonathan administration is planning a massive publicity roadshow. This is the same APC that has been on a road show; that has exploited the kidnap of over 200 young girls, and even set up and funded a Special Purpose Vehicle called #BringBackOurGirls to continue trumpeting the ill-luck that befell Nigeria. Wonders will never end on the political stage called Nigeria. And if we may ask, how did the opposition party know the girls are about to be set free?

Tourists travel to famous landmarks and spooky destinations every year, hoping for a deeper insight into mysterious structures and what happened within their perimeter thousands of years ago. But sometimes, strange things happen to ordinary people in their own town. Finding out exactly what happened and why it happened remains of interest to millions around the world, especially when it seems that no logical explanation can be found. 10Salzburg Cube In 1885, Reidl, an employee at an Austrian foundry, discovered the mysterious Salzburg Cube (also known as the Wolfsegg Iron). He cracked open a seam of coal to find a strange-looking iron cube inside it. It had many cracks and little holes in it, as well as a strange color and a deep fissure down the middle. Reidl had never seen anything like it before, so after showing it to his boss, they turned it over to the Heimathaus Museum. The next year, a professor at the museum named Adolf Gurlt studied the cube and determ...

By The Citizen Former military head of state, General Mohammadu Buhari (retd,), has shifted the date for the declaration of his presidential for the ticket of his party to October 15, from the earlier October 8 scheduled for the event. Buhari, who will be declaring his interest to contest on the platform of the opposition political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), announced the postponement Tuesday in a short statement signed by the newly appointed Director General of his campaign organisation, Dr. Audu Ogbeh. - Thisday

pointblanknews.com Jonathan is the most highly-educated president in the history of Nigeria. The English have an expression: “give a dog a bad name in order to kill it.” It refers to the malicious misrepresentation of someone in order to discredit him. This has been strategy of the opposition to Goodluck Jonathan to date. This opposition comprises an unholy alliance between the APC, the Arewa Consultative Forum, the Northern Elders Forum as well as the Boko Haram.

  A Ugandan health official inside an isolation center on November 15, 2012. AFP/Getty Images Gloria Tumwijuke can't forget the patient who gave her Ebola: she was a young mother, five months pregnant with another child. She arrived at the hospital on a blood-drenched mattress, blood rushing out of her eyes, nose, and ears. Gloria, a midwife, didn't suspect Ebola. She tried to save her patient and instead contracted one of the world's deadliest viruses. Gloria is among a handful of survivors of a 2012 Ebola outbreak in the Kibaale district of western Uganda. The disease struck 11 people; four died. (Read:  17 things you need to know about the Ebola virus .) From her home in Kibaale, she told me about what Ebola did to her body, how she beat it, and what it was like return to a community where everyone was afraid of her. Here's a...

Stunning great white shark image ‘just luck’ Amanda Brewer says she just happened to be in the right place at the right time; photo showing larger-than-life predator has gone viral, but not everybody is a fan This great white shark photo is a hit on social media; photo by ©Amanda Brewer Amanda Brewer is an art teacher in New Jersey, who assures anyone who will listen that she possesses no great skill as a photographer. But many aren’t convinced after seeing the vivid image Brewer captured recently from inside a shark-diving cage off South Africa, an image so stunning and life-like that it has taken the Internet by storm. The image has been shared so widely, and discussed so passionately, she said, that she has had little time to concentrate on anything else.

(Thinkstock) BBC Future’s World-Changing Ideas Summit, on 21 October, will examine some of the most exciting and provocative developments we face in science, technology and health. In the run-up to the summit, we will offer a unique guide to some of the issues that will be discussed… starting with the notion that humans may one day build societies beyond Earth. Why should we take the idea of colonising space seriously? With our rising planet’s population competing for space and resources, some people are convinced we need to look beyond Earth to help ensure humanity’s survival. As Elon Musk, the entrepreneur behind space tourism company SpaceX put it recently: “I think there is a strong argument for making life multi-planetary in order to safeguard the existence of humanity in the event that something catastrophic were to happen.”

Memory loss has to be one of our biggest fears. Names, words, facts and faces – nothing is spared. As the latest video from the Head Squeeze team describes above, mental deterioration was once thought to be an inevitable consequence of ageing, thanks to the steady erosion of our brain matter: we lose about 0.5% of our brain volume every year. The hippocampus – the region responsible for memory and learning – was thought to weather particularly badly; by the time we are 90, many of us have lost around a third of its grey matter.

(Darpa) Once, heavily armoured military vehicles would trundle into the very heart of battle – the vehicles of the future might adopt a different battlefield strategy. Your family car, it’s fair to say, doesn’t have much in common with a tank. Military vehicles aren’t required to squeeze into tight parking spots on shopping trips, nor negotiate the traffic jams you encounter on the way to work. But some of the underlying technology in military vehicles does find its way out of the battlefield to end up in your humble hatchback. Could this be the case for a new type of smart military vehicle? Darpa – the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, part of the US Department of Defense – is building machines that will use sensors and artificial intelligence to avoid enemy fire, rather than heavy armour and protection. What the military learns as a result of the Ground X-Vehicle Technology (GXV-T) programme might also m...

"You know you're dealing with some serious Islamic hardliners when they blur out your face to protect Islamic modesty… [but] chose to make it blurry rather than to black it out entirely - I suppose they did that so you could still tell that I was a blonde, white American girl. The holy grail of Muslim converts - so to speak." The blonde white American girl in question - Jennifer Williams, a researcher for the Brookings Institution's Center for Middle East Policy - joined a tongue-in-cheek hashtag movement called #MuslimApologies, and found herself at the centre of attention among members of the Islamic extremist community.