The Jersey City Medical Center in the United States, has announced Ijeoma Akunyili as the new Chief Medical Officer of the heath facility.

Ijeoma is the first daughter of the late Dora Akunyili, former director-general of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and ex-minister of information.

The medical center made the announcement in a statement on Wednesday, January 11, 2023, adding that Dr. Akunyili is its first Black Chief Medical Officer.

“Jersey City, NJ – Jersey City Medical Center, an RWJBarnabas Health facility, announced the appointment of Ije Akunyili, MD, MBA, MPA, as the new Chief Medical Officer effective January 2, 2023. Dr. Akunyili is the Medical Center’s first Black Chief Medical Officer,” the statement read.

“RWJBarnabas Health is proud to add Dr. Akunyili to its executive clinical leadership team. Her experience managing multi-specialty physician groups in integrated health care systems will help support Jersey City Medical Center in providing comprehensive health care throughout the community,” said Andy Anderson, MD, Executive Vice President and Chief Medical and Quality Officer for RWJBarnabas Health. She will be a tremendous asset to our team.”

“Dr. Akunyili has a wealth of experience and knowledge, and as our Chief Medical Officer, we look forward to creating a world-class experience for every patient at Jersey City Medical Center. I am confident that Hudson County will benefit in a great way from her leadership, and that her presence will have tremendous impact,” said Michael Prilutsky, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Medical Center.

“In her most recent role, Dr. Akunyili served as the Regional Medical Director for TeamHealth, Northeast Group, where she had strategic, operational, and clinical oversight of nearly twenty emergency departments, critical care, and hospitalist service lines in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania. She led an unprecedented fourfold expansion of service lines with a specific focus on medical services and access to care for underserved populations.

“Previously, Dr. Akunyili served as the chair of emergency medicine at Waterbury Hospital, a Level II trauma teaching hospital. There she was the change agent who led a dynamic team in dramatically reducing the lengths of stay, improving overall performance across multiple patient-centered metrics, and increasing physician staffing. She was awarded the 2019 Medical Director of the Year Award for the impressive turnaround of the Waterbury Hospital Emergency Department.

“In addition to her executive experience, Dr. Akunyili has vast leadership and advocacy experience, and is currently serving as the President of the Connecticut College of Emergency Physicians (CCEP). Prior, she served for several years on the board of directors of Texas and Connecticut Colleges of Emergency Physicians. She was an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine Houston, TX, and she is currently a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at Yale University.

Speaking on the appointment, Akunyili expressed gratitude to the hospital, adding that she remains committed to ensuring quality service delivery.

“I am grateful for this opportunity, and I look forward to serving the residents of Hudson County and continuing to provide safe, innovative, efficient, and equitable care. It is a true privilege to lead the clinical effort at Jersey City Medical Center and to create sustainable health outcomes for our community.” she was quoted as saying.

Dr. Akunyili graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Pennsylvania and attended the University of Maryland School of Medicine. She completed her emergency medicine residency at the McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston.

In addition, Dr. Akunyili earned an MPA in international development from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Akunyili and her husband are the parents of two teenage children.

A man who was arraigned before a Mombasa Law Court left court, left everyone in speechless after he complimented the magistrate.

Wycliffe Mungo was charged with the offense of stealing. The police report alleges that on December 1, 2022, he reportedly stole academic transcripts, degree certificate, KCB ATM card, and a HP laptop valued at Ksh45,000.

However, defending himself in court, he began by asking the Mombasa principal magistrate Vincent Adet where he bought his suit.

Mungo said;

“Your honour first of all good afternoon and secondly allow me to compliment you for being so handsome. Your black suit seems to be from Nairobi and yourself l believe you are from there too.

“You appear smart and handsome. I trust you are from Nairobi. Those from Nairobi look like you. Your black suit and tie must be expensive.”

He further caused more laughter by informing the court that there was no way charges of stealing would have been levelled against him since the complainant was his girlfriend.

To prove that the lady was indeed his girlfriend, he urged the Judge to ask her why she left her panties in his house. Mungo said;

“The complainant in this matter is my girlfriend. The items were found in my possession since we used to live together and we have been dating since we were in the university.

“Infact when the police came into my house l informed them they should take her clothes and shoes to court.”I have seen how you conduct your proceedings. Ask them why they left the inner pants in my house. This is part of the evidence that should be used to acquit me.”

The matter will be mentioned on January 31 for pretrial purposes.

Pope Francis has said his final farewell to his predecessor as he bowed his head and touched the coffin of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at his funeral service in St Peter’s Square.

The former pope died on December 31 in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery inside the Vatican.

At the funeral’s end, the coffin was carried by 12 white-gloved pallbearers back into St. Peter’s Basilica for interment in a crypt below the main floor, where Benedict’s coffin will be buried inside two other coffins, along with papal regalia.

Twelve pallbearers, known as the ‘Papal Gentlemen’ who are lay attendants of the papal household, carried the coffin in and out of the basilica to the sound of applause and tolling bolls.

The body of Pope Emeritus was taken from the basilica and rested before the altar in the piazza as red-robed cardinals looked on, while Benedict’s longtime secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, bent down and kissed a book of the Gospels that was left open on the coffin.

Pope Francis who presided over the funeral asked that the angels lead the late pope into paradise and grant him eternal rest. He further asked that God grants unto the living faithful the assurance of hope and faith.

“Benedict, faithful friend of the Bridegroom, may your joy be complete as you hear his voice, now and forever,”

Pope Francis said.

“The Lord quietly bestows the spirit of meekness that is ready to understand, accept, hope and risk. It is the source of an unseen and elusive fruitfulness, born of his knowing the One in whom he has placed his trust.”

Prince Harry has claimed that his brother Prince William physically attacked him, according to the Guardian, which says it has seen a copy of the duke’s upcoming memoir, Spare.

The newspaper reported that the book sets out an argument between the pair over Prince Harry’s wife Meghan.

“He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor,” the Guardian quotes Prince Harry as writing.

BBC News has not seen a copy of Spare.The memoir will not be published until next Tuesday, but the Guardian said it obtained a copy amid what it called “stringent pre-launch security”.

Kensington Palace said it “has no comment to make” while Buckingham Palace has yet to respond to a request for comment.

According to the Guardian, the book says the row was sparked by comments Prince William made to Prince Harry at his London home in 2019.

Prince Harry, the paper says, writes that his brother was critical of his marriage to Meghan Markle – and that Prince William described her as “difficult”, “rude” and “abrasive”.

The Duke of Sussex reportedly writes that his brother was “parrot[ing] the press narrative” as the confrontation escalated.Prince Harry is said to describe what happened next, including an alleged physical altercation.

“He set down [a glass of] water, called me another name, then came at me. It all happened so fast. So very fast.“He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor.

“I landed on the dog’s bowl, which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me. I lay there for a moment, dazed, then got to my feet and told him to get out.”

Martin Pengelly, a journalist for the Guardian’s US website who wrote its story, said he did not approach Prince William’s communication team.The reporter said that his article is “a report on Harry’s book, which he’s written, it’s Harry’s account”.

Mr Pengelly told BBC Radio 5 Live:

“We carefully, obviously in reporting it, didn’t call it a fight because Harry says he didn’t fight back.”

Prince Harry writes that his brother urged him to hit back and he refused to do so, according to the Guardian, but Prince William later looked “regretful, and apologised”.

Photographs suggest Prince Harry regularly wore a dark necklace at events such as the Invictus Games, and on foreign tours with Meghan, as recently as September 2019.

While publishers at Penguin Random House are yet to confirm whether the leaked excerpts from the book are genuine, Prince Harry has recently spoken of his troubled relationship with his brother.In the couple’s Harry and Meghan Netflix documentary, Prince Harry describes a meeting he attended with his brother, and father, the now King.

Prince Harry described the conference in early 2020, which was also attended by the late Queen, as “terrifying”.“It was terrifying to have my brother scream and shout at me and my father say things that just simply weren’t true, and my grandmother quietly sit there and sort of take it all in,” he said.

The Guardian says Prince Harry details a meeting with Charles, then Prince of Wales, and Prince William after the funeral of his grandfather, Prince Phillip, in April 2021.

According to the paper, Prince Harry writes his father stood between him and Prince William, and said “please, boys, don’t make my final years a misery”.

In a trailer for a sit-down interview, which will be broadcast on 8 January ahead of the book release, the prince said:

“I would like to get my father back, I would like to have my brother back”.

However, Prince Harry told ITV’s Tom Bradby “they’ve shown absolutely no willingness to reconcile,” although it was not clear who he was referring to.Buckingham Palace declined to comment on this.

Spare, ghostwritten by memoirist JR Moehringer and part of a multi-million dollar book deal, was previously believed to be subject to the upmost secrecy with few details known about its content.

“For Harry, this is his story at last,” Penguin Random House said in a publicity statement back in October.

“With its raw, unflinching honesty, Spare is a landmark publication full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.”

The Vatican on Thursday revealed how Pope emeritus, Benedict XVI, will be buried today.

In an update on its Twitter handle, the Vatican said the coffin of Pope emeritus was closed on Wednesday based on tradition.

Part of the statement read, “Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s coffin was closed in a ritual held Wednesday evening.

As per tradition, the Pope Emeritus’ pallia, coins and medals minted during his pontificate, and a ‘rogito’ summarizing the highlights of his papacy, were also placed inside the casket.

“Following the Requiem Mass, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s coffin will be transported through the Basilica and to the Vatican crypt for burial, in the first tomb of John Paul II.

“He will be buried in the traditional triple coffin, with caskets made of cypress wood, zinc, and oak.”