Sierra Leone president orders three-day national lockdown against Ebola

Heath workers collect samples from the body of a person suspected to
have died from the Ebola virus, as it lies on the street covered in
leaves in Freetown, Sierra Leone. In a delay that some say may have
cost lives, the World Health Organization resisted calling the Ebola
outbreak in West Africa a public health emergency until the summer of
2014, two months after staff raised the possibility and long after a
senior manager called for a drastic change in strategy. (Photo: AP)
Sierra Leone : Sierra Leone's President Ernest Koromo ordered the
country's entire population Saturday to keep to their homes on March
27-29 in a bid to stem the spread of the deadly Ebola epidemic.
"All Sierra Leoneans must stay at home for three days," he announced,
expanding a previous order from the authorities for a lockdown in the
capital Freetown and northern areas of the country.

IAS officer DK Ravi lost money in realty business

Mother Gowramma and father Kariappa (R) at a protest demanding
probe into the death of IAS DK Ravi in Bengaluru (Photo: PTI)
Bengaluru : The late IAS officer D.K. Ravi, who was found hanging in
his flat on Monday evening, wanted to venture out into the real estate
business and had formed ‘R and H Developers’ with his friend Suresh
as a partner.
The firm was floated when he was serving as the Kolar Deputy
Commissioner.
CID sources told Deccan Chronicle that the company had struck some
deals and registered large tracts of land in Suresh’s name. Around 35
acres of land was purchased at Bangarpet area.
They had plans of getting all the required sanctions from sanctioning
authorities and developing the land into a layout.
Mr Ravi also had a joint account operational with Suresh at the
Yelahanka branch of State Bank of Mysore.
But Mr Ravi’s dreams of forming layout were dashed when
Suresh allegedly deceived him and made him bear large part of the
losses.
Police protection sought for Ravi’s parents
Fearing a threat to the lives of IAS officer D.K. Ravi’s kin, and to the
grave of the officer, a local resident on Friday petitioned the director
general of police (DGP) for round-the-clock protection and to take
preventive action against Kunigal legislator D. Nagarajaiah who could
harm the aged couple.
In a complaint submitted to Mr Omprakash, Mr M.N. Shivanna Gowda
has stated that he was anxious about the safety of Mr Kariyappa and
Mrs Gowramma, parents of Mr Ravi, who were “forcefully” brought
from Doddakoppalu to Bengaluru by Mr Nagarajaiah to protest against
the state government on March 18.
“Now, rumours are rife that workers of JD(S) could harm the couple in
an effort to embarrass the state government for refusing to hand over
the case of mysterious death of Mr Ravi to the Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI),” his complaint states.
The complaint, a copy of which was made available to Deccan
Chronicle, requested the DGP to register a case against Mr Nagarajaiah
and instruct police officers concerned to take appropriate action.
This complaint was lodged hours after Mrs Gowramma was
hospitalised in Huliyurudurga and his aunt Padmamma passed away
while being rushed to a hospital in Bengaluru on Friday.

Milos Raonic defeats Rafael Nadal in quarter-finals at Indian Wells Canadian takes another step in impressive career

Milos Raonic defeated Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals of the BNP
Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif. on Friday night.
The match went the distance, with Raonic, a native of Thornhill, Ont.,
prevailing 4-6, 7-6, 7-5 to earn his first career victory over Nadal in six
tries.
"I'm about as happy as I can be," said Raonic, who has improved his
showing at this desert venue with successive appearances. "I'm
delighted and very fortunate.
"But there is a day of work tomorrow and I have to prepare for that. I
need to keep up the momentum."
Raonic fired 18 aces and hit 48 winners to 25 winners for Nadal, who
had 22 unforced errors.
They dueled in the second-set tiebreaker, when Nadal held three match
points but he committed errors on two of them and Raonic smashed a
winner on the other.
Raonic had plenty of chances in the tiebreaker, too, finally converting
on his fifth set point when Nadal netted a shot.
Neither gave an inch in the third, staying on serve until the 11th game.
That's when Raonic earned the only break of the set, hitting a shot on
the baseline that Nadal chased down but sent a backhand long.
Raonic dropped just one point on his serve in the final game, winning
on another backhand error by Nadal, who lost to a Canadian player for
the first time in nine career matches.
Nadal's defeat prevented Djokovic, Federer, the Spaniard and Murray —
the world's top four-ranked players — from reaching the semifinals at
the same tournament since the 2012 Australian Open.
Raonic, the sixth seed, moves on to face second-seeded Roger Federer
in the semifinals.
Earlier Friday, Federer beat Tomas Berdych 6-4, 6-0, keeping alive his
bid of winning an unprecedented fifth title in the desert.
Federer improved to 15-1 this year and earned his first straight-set win
over Berdych since 2011 in Paris and just his second 6-0 set ever in
19 career matches against the Czech.
"I was really able to utilize the court much more, play more angles,
play with variation, spin and slice. I did that very well," Federer said.
"Because I was serving well and moving well, so maybe there is not
going to be that many chances for him on the return."
Top-ranked Novak Djokovic will meet fourth-seeded Andy Murray in
the other men's semifinal on Saturday.
Pospisil advances to doubles final
In doubles, Vancouver's Vasek Pospisil and American partner Jack
Sock, the Wimbledon champions, reached the final by beating Poland's
Marcin Matkowski and Serb Nenad Zimonjic— former partner of
Toronto's Daniel Nestor— 6-3, 3-6, 10-6 (match tiebreak).
The pair will play for the title against Italians Fabio Fognini and Simone
Bolelli.
Serena Williams bows out
Serena Williams has withdrawn from her semifinal at the BNP Paribas
Open because of a right knee injury.
The world's top-ranked player was set to play third-seeded Simona
Halep in the second semifinal Friday night. She was expected to
address the crowd on-court after the first semifinal between Jelena
Jankovic and Sabine Lisicki.